


Maybe If The Stars Align

by SereneCalamity



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments (Movies), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, M/M, Other, Slow Build, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2018-10-19 23:18:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 45,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10650144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SereneCalamity/pseuds/SereneCalamity
Summary: Escaping New York to live in Los Angeles with his cousins, Jace finds himself falling for not one, but two people. Jace/Clary/Sebastian.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So , this is my new Jace/Clary/Sebastian .  
> A little bit different from my last one .  
> Disclaimer : I do not own the characters .

It was actually pretty sad that his whole life seemed to fit into the fraying canvas bag that was strapped to the back of his motorcycle. He was twenty-three years old, and all he really had was his clothes, a few old photographs and, of course, his 2003 Harley-Davidson Dyna motorbike that he had saved practically every cent he could to buy a few years ago. Jace Herondale had never led a life where he had much in the way of material possessions, but it still felt a little painful as he drove away from the apartment building he had grown up in with only that one bag.

It was a cold night, and he was glad for the leather gloves he was wearing to stop the bite from the wind as he sped along the busy city streets. Even though it was almost two in the morning, New York was still completely alive. There were men and woman in outfits that clearly said they were out enjoying a night on the town, but then there were other men and woman who were dressed in suits or uniforms, working over time or night shifts.

This was all he had ever really known, and yet it didn't feel like home.

The fact that he didn't feel crushing sadness in his chest told him that he was doing was the best thing for him. He didn't feel upset about leaving behind the apartment, or the memories that he had there, because a majority of them weren't happy memories. And that place had never felt like somewhere that he was loved and safe.

There had only been one place, and a couple of people that he had ever felt even close to home, and that was where he was going now.

The drive itself was going to take him about three days, and that was if he was going to drive straight there. For the first time for as long as he could remember, he didn't have any obligations; no job that he needed to be at or responsibilities to meet. Maybe he would take a detour, take his time getting to Los Angeles and his cousins. Go sight seeing, or whatever it was that people who actually had time to go off and do things in their free time did.

He had resigned from his job two weeks ago, giving in enough notice so that he got his full holiday payout. He had sold everything he could from his and his mothers apartment so that he could put that money into his bank as well, and had then tidied the place up as best as he could so that he got back a majority of their security deposit, even though it had technically been under his fathers name. His father had been gone for years though, and thankfully the landlord had known that.

Jace drove for almost eight hours straight, only stopping once a little after six in the morning at a rest stop for something to eat for breakfast and to go to the bathroom. His ass was a bit sore and his hands were aching a little from where they had been clenched around the handlebars of his motorcycle. He ignored it for a long time, he was used to putting up with uncomfortable conditions, but when it was almost eleven thirty, he decided that his body needed a break. He wasn't particularly hungry, and he needed to be frugal with his money, so he just found a rest stop on the side of the road, parked up his bike, and went for a walk.

He stretched out his legs, and his arms, and then settled down somewhere near a river and drank from the bottle of water that he had kept in his duffle bag. He was a bit tired, but he didn't want to properly stop until that night when he was actually stopping to sleep. He just needed some time to let his body get used to actual blood flow again.

There was something calming and almost hypnotic about the way the river sounded as it rushed past him and the light whistle of the wind in the trees and the fact that he could only occasionally hear a car go past.

He wasn't really used to the quiet.

He was a born and bred New Yorker.

Sometimes there were times when Jace had got on his motorcycle and driven in a straight line when things had gotten too much. He dreamed about just continuing to drive until he ran out of gas and couldn't keep going. But the responsibility and obligation that he felt toward his mother had always won out, and he turned the bike around and headed back home. He had been driving for almost twelve hours, and that was the furthest he had ever been from New York.

Jace couldn't stop his mind from wandering back over the past few weeks. He was twenty-three years old, but he felt as though he had been reduced to a worrying mess of a six year old who had lost his mother in a crowded supermarket. He was used to Celine Herondale not coming home for a night or two, but it had now been a week since he had seen her. He had tried calling her phone number, going around to the apartment of the drop kick asshole that she had been seeing a few months ago, but the phone kept going to voice mail and the ex-lover hadn't seen her. Finally, on the eighth day after she had disappeared, she had stumbled in the door of their tiny apartment, reeking of alcohol and eyes bloodshot, with a gaudy ring on her finger.

She had gotten drunk and gotten married.

Jace had lost his shit.

He had been working overtime—every single day—for the past three and a half weeks, without a day off, just trying to make ends week, and she had gone and spent the money he put aside for their rent and food and utilities on a stupid diamond ring. Apparently the charmer that she had married couldn't quite 'afford the ring he thought she deserved' and so she had pitched in.

The cherry on top was when Celine had stated was that she was too old to still be living with her son, and she wanted a fresh start.

She wanted a fresh start.

As though she was the one who's life hadn't been properly lived.

Celine had been complaining for as long as Jace could remember that getting pregnant with him had ruined her life. She had been eighteen when she had met Stephen Herondale. He was a few years older than her, and he was suave and smooth talking, and he charmed his way into her pants within a few minutes. When she got knocked up, she gave up working and stayed at home with him. She had never been good at school, so University and studying had never been in the cards for her, so once Jace had grown up, she didn't have anything to fall back on. Stephen had stayed around for some time, surprisingly, maybe he actually had intentions to be a good father.

He failed miserably.

Jace didn't remember too much about his father, but he remembers shouting and screaming, and being pushed into walls and over chairs and down a flight of stairs. He remembers being scared and wanting to feel safe, wanting someone to put their arms around him and tell him that it was going to be okay.

He learnt pretty damn fast that he couldn't rely on someone to do that for him.

There had only been three people who had ever made him feel as though he was safe and loved, and neither of them were his parents.

One of them probably hadn't even realized how much they had even meant to Jace.

Jace took in a deep breath as he scrubbed a hand over his face and through his shaggy, blonde hair which was matted from where it had been shoved under his helmet for almost twelve hours, a bit greasy with sweat. It was going to feel good to have a shower when he found some cheap hotel to crash in that night. He made his way back to his bike, his ass already aching a little just at the idea of getting back on, but he swung his leg over, and pulled his helmet on, doing up the strap and then revving the engine. It vibrated between his thighs, an arousing power, and he slapped on a pair of sunglasses and took off, wheels spinning up gravel and creating a rift in his wake.

* * *

It was three days later that Jace made it to Los Angeles.

He could have made it in less time, but for once in his life, he didn't have to be somewhere, or have to be doing something, and he was taking advantage of that the best he could.

The city was busy but it didn't feel quite like New York. There was something in the air that just felt completely different. The sun shone brighter, and Jace was starting to feel as though he was going to need to take off his leather jacket that had been keeping him protected from the whipping of the wind on his journey over. As he got closer to the beach, there was a salty tang in the air and he took in deep breaths through his nose.

It was the middle of a Wednesday afternoon, but their were still quite a few people on the beach. There were mums their with toddlers, and a couple of dogs running around with their owners, and girls in bikini's and boys throwing around a football.

Jace parked his motorbike up by the long line of cars and switched it off, pocketing the keys as he pulled off his helmet and then shrugged out of his leather jacket. He instantly felt lighter, only wearing his jeans and a light, v-neck tee-shirt. He pulled it away from his slightly sweaty skin, shaking it out, before walking toward the beach. He really wanted to pull off his shoes and socks and let his toes sink into the sand, but then he was gonna have to shove his feet back into those shoes and socks before he could ride his bike again, and that would just be uncomfortable, so he refrained.

Instead he found an empty spot, far enough away from the a gaggle of mothers with their screaming children that he could still hear the kids laughs every now an then but not pitchy enough that it scratched at his eardrums.

Jace was tired. Although he had stopped and stayed at hotels each of the nights he had been driving, they had all been cheap hotels with thin mattresses and flat pillows and hardly enough blankets to keep warm. He was pretty adaptable when it came to less than desirable sleeping positions, but given his body had already been aching ridiculously from being on the bike all day, he hadn't been able to get comfortable, and he had mainly tossed and turned. He was definitely looking forward to getting a good nights sleep.

He pulled his phone and sent off a text.

I'll be there soon. If I don't get lost following my GPS ;)

Jace shoved his phone into his back pocket and looked back out over the ocean. The tide was coming in, and there were a couple of surfers who were paddling out towards the waves. He had a feeling that he was going to be spending a lot of time down here at the beach—he was going to have a lot more free time on his hands now that he didn't need to support his mother as well as himself.

He lost track of time, pulling cigarettes out of his pocket and lighting up, ignoring the dirty looks that came from a couple of the mothers as he took a drag, blowing the hazy smoke into the clean around him. So maybe he was polluting the fresh air, but that was why he hadn't sat directly next to anyone. He finished the cigarette and stubbed it out in the sand. He was about to leave it there, but the longer he stared at the little discrepancy in the pretty, smooth sand, the worse he felt, so he picked the butt up and carried it back toward the parking lot with him, and flicked it toward the bin. He decided to forego his leather jacket, shoving it into his duffle bag, and then felt his phone vibrate just as he was about to pick up his helmet.

_I'm not home at the moment, but let yourself in with the spare key. It's under the doormat at the back door._

Jace couldn't help but be a little disappointed, but it was the middle of the Wednesday afternoon, and he knew that his cousin had to work. It had been almost a year since he had seen Alec Lightwood though, so he had been hoping that he would be there when Jace arrived.

He typed in the address to Alec and his partners home and saw that it was only about a fifteen minute drive away. That was nice. That meant that as long as he was staying with Alec, he could take jogs in the morning and end up right along the beach. He wasn't sure how long he was going to be staying with them, he hadn't really thought that far ahead. The whole uplifting his life from NY to LA had been a split second decision and he really hadn't thought the whole thing through. Hell, he didn't even know how big Alec's place was, and there was every chance he was only going to be able to stay there for a short amount of time. And at the end of the day, that was what he was going to want. He wanted his own place, his own life, and to live it the way that he wanted to.

It's not as though Alec would ever going to ask him to leave, even if the place was crowded.

Alec and his sister, Isabelle Lightwood, had always been constants in Jace's life, even though they were hundreds and hundreds of miles away. Sometimes they would go weeks without talking, but then whenever they got in front of the webcam, or Facetime, or on the phone the time would fade away, and the stresses and shit in Jace's life just disappeared.

That was why after Celine had walked out on him, and he had gone out and fucked some nameless girl in a dirty bathroom bar to get rid of his frustrations, his mind had instantly gone to his cousins.

That was where he wanted to be.

That was where he would feel safe, and cared for, and loved.

All it had taken was a phone call, he had barely got the words out before Alec was insisting that he get his ass there as soon as he could. Isabelle had been in the background, and he could hear her cheering, saying that they would finally all be living in the same place, and that he could finally get to know his nephew properly, Max Lightwood-Lewis.

Something else he would never had had the time to do if he was in New York.

He hadn't even met his nephew yet, who was now almost a year old. Had only seen photos of him when they were sent to his phone. He was sure that he would have been able to see a whole lot more if he had a Facebook, like Alec and Izzy kept insisting he get, but he just couldn't bring himself to. He didn't think he would be able to handle seeing photos of their happy, picture-perfect lives while he was stuck, unable to go forward and struggling not to backward.

Besides, Jace had no doubt that that third person would also feature on their Facebook pages; that third person that made him feel as though there was something who cared what happened to him.

It was stupid, and he knew he was clinging to an idea rather to an actual person, because they had only met three times, but every single time they were together it had felt as though there was this connection. Jace knew that they didn't owe him anything, and to be completely honest, he would happy if they just offered him their friendship now that he was here.

Jace didn't get lost, and he managed to find Alec's place well enough. It was a house, rather than an apartment, and Jace couldn't stop his smile. There was a lawn out the front which was clipped to a short, tidy length, and there was a tree in the corner, all leafy and green. Jace had to bite his lip as he took it all in as he got off his motorbike, parking it up against the house, and he pulled off his helmet. The house was a cream colour with a dark coloured roof and the windows were all cleaned, the blinds inside open enough to let the sun in, but closed enough for privacy. There was a garage at the end of the drive, the door closed. He walked slowly around the side of the house, finding the backdoor and grinning when he saw a grey doormat laid there.

Wipe your fucking feet, please, it read in dark, swirly writing.

He couldn't stop his snort of laughter.

He bent down and lifted it up, finding the key and then slid it into the lock. There was a pleasant citrus smell in the house, mixed together with the scent of mens cologne, something expensive, and probably belonging to Alec's partner.

There was movement in the hall to his left and Jace frowned, turning around sharply.

No one was meant to be here, Alec would have told him.

Then his eyes widened as he saw the person—his third person—step out into view with a wide grin on their face, eyes sparkling.

"Sebastian," Jace murmured.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Jace," Sebastian Verlac said easily, closing the distance between them and then reaching over and wrapping his arms around Jace's body as though they interacted all the time. Jace tensed for a moment, but then lifted his hands to rest them on Sebastian's lower back for a moment. Sebastian pulled back first, slapping his hands down on Jace's shoulders and squeezed. "Shit, man, it's been a long time since I've seen you." Jace was still surprised to see him there, and apart from uttering his name when he had first seen him, he hadn't made any noise. It was a good thing Sebastian was filling the silence, walking into Magnus and Alec's kitchen as though he lived there, pulling out a couple of cans of soda from the fridge and tossing one in his direction. "I've got the day off work, had to stop by the airport, and so I thought I'd come and surprise you since Alec said you were showing up today."

"Uh," Jace finally managed to say, blinking at Sebastian.

"I can't believe you're finally here, man," Sebastian grinned at him as he popped off the tab from his can of lemonade and tossed it toward the bin in the corner of the kitchen. "You always said that you were going to come out here and see us," he faltered a little bit as he remembered the circumstances that Jace was here under. "I'm sorry about your mum taking off. That sucks."

"Yeah," Jace mumbled, looking down at his can of drink and tapped his fingers against the side. Sebastian pursed his lips, looking out the window, and Jace lifted his eyes to look at him.

His skin was tanned and his hair was blonde, bleached even lighter from the sun that he clearly was out in a lot of the time. His eyes were dark, which Jace had always found strange because often people with blonde hair had lighter coloured eyes, and he had these ridiculously long, light coloured eyelashes. Jace swallowed hard, tilting his head to looked back down at his drink as Sebastian turned back to him.

"Are you planning on staying here? Not here as in at Alec's place, but here, as in LA?" Sebastian asked. "It would be totally awesome if you do. I've, uh," he let out a short laugh and he looked a little embarassed. "I've missed you," he finally said, giving Jace a sheepish smile that Jace found ridiculously adorable. Jace felt his cheeks heating up a little bit and he shifted from foot to foot. Sebastian cleared his throat and let out another laugh. "Anyway, uh, so are you? Planning on staying?"

"I think so," Jace nodded slowly. "I mean, I don't really have any plans to be honest. But coming here seemed like the thing to do. It's where Alec and Izzy are. And you." Sebastian's smile widened at that. "Although I don't know how long I'm going to be able to crash here," Jace looked around the house. "Izzy has told me horror stories about Alec and Magnus' sex life." Sebastian let out a snort and shook his head.

"Fucking aye," he scrunched up his nose. "We've all been around when those two are starting to climb all over each other. Especially when they've been drinking, it's something that you need to look out for."

"Thanks for the warning," Jace felt his lips pulling upwards in a smile. It felt a bit foreign on his face, but it felt right, standing here with Sebastian. He scratched the back of his neck and drank from his can. "So you said you had a day off work? Where do you work?"

"Alec didn't tell you?" Sebastian frowned a little. "I work with him, with a couple of our friends. Jon, he's the older brother of my girlfriend, he owns a garage in town. A bunch of us got degrees in..." Sebastian kept on talking but Jace was stuck on one word.

Girlfriend.

He had a girlfriend.

Of _course_ he had a girlfriend.

Or a boyfriend.

It had been two years since he had even seen Sebastian, and even when they had met up, it definitely hadn't been anything serious. It had been a couple of nights of rolling around together and laughing and going out for cheap beer and terribly made burgers. They had met all of three times, each of those times lasting about a week, and Jace wasn't stupid enough to think that they meant as much to Sebastian to as they did to him. For Jace, they were this escape from the shittiness that was his life. For Sebastian, they were probably just a couple of nights of fun.

"Jace?" Sebastian sounded confused and waved his hand in front of Jace's face. He must have asked a question and was waiting on a reply because he raised his eyebrows at the golden haired boy.

"Sorry, what was that?" Jace blinked at him.

"I asked if you wanted to go out for lunch? Grab a beer? There's this amazing food bar down by the beach that we go to all the time, and—"

"I think that I'm just gonna have a shower and maybe have a nap," Jace's words fell flat, even to him. Sebastian clearly thought so as well, because the corners of his mouth tightened and his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "I've been driving on my bike for pretty much the past three days straight and I'm just..." he let out a huff and ran his fingers through his hair, shaking it out. "Tired," he finished lamely. Sebastian stared at him for a few beats, not quite believing him, but deciding that he wasn't going to push it. Jace didn't miss the flash of hurt across Sebastian's face and it made his chest tighten uncomfortably as he let his eyes slide to the side.

"Oh, right," Sebastian nodded, giving him a half smile that didn't quite reach his dark eyes. "That's totally understandable. Uh," he reached for his phone from his back pocket and held it out to Jace. "Put your number in. We should meet up and...Catch up and shit."

"Yeah," Jace nodded as he tapped his number in and then off a text to his own phone so that he had Sebastian's number. He handed the phone back to Sebastian and their fingers brushed for a moment. "Well, I'm going to be here for a while, so yeah, absolutely, at some point."

"Hey—have you got a job lined up? I mean, we can always talk to Jon. I know fuck all about what our budget is and whether or not we're looking at hiring anyone else, but I can always ask," Sebastian suggested. "Just until you get yourself on your feet. I know that you worked in a garage back in New York, so it works out perfectly!" Jace was staring at Sebastian and the blonde faltered. "Uh, it's just an idea. I totally get if you want to find your own way." Jace was still staring at Sebastian, and the other man pursed his lips, drumming his fingers against the side of his phone as he waited for a reply.

"Uh," he cleared his throat. "Yeah. Yeah, actually, that would be really good."

"Really?" Sebastian looked surprise, his grin widening, eyes glittering.

"Yeah," Jace had already been worrying about what he was meant to do for a job. He had worked since he was a teenager, to support himself and his mum. He had worked before he went to school in the morning, and then in the afternoon after school finished. Financial instability had always been a big shadow in the front of his mind ever since he was a kid, and even though he had enough money to support himself at the moment, a job would definitely be what he was going to start looking for starting tomorrow. "That would actually be really great."

"Yeah, awesome, I'll talk to him tonight, see what he says," Sebastian grinned.

"Thanks, Seb," Jace gave him another smile, but that didn't change the fact that honestly? He just wanted to be alone right now. Fortunately, Sebastian seemed to pick up on that, and he reached out to touch his fingers to the back of Jace's hand briefly before he was pulling away and walking toward the front of the house. He heard a door shut, and a moment later an engine started, probably parked out on the street because there hadn't been any in the drive of the house when he had arrived.

Sebastian.

Shit.

He really hadn't expected to see him today.

Actually, he wasn't sure he expected to see him anytime soon.

He had definitely hoped that he was going to see him, he knew that it was inevitable. The thing that he had had with Sebastian was the most confusing and while it was short lived, it had felt more real than anything else he had had in that way. The longest time he had ever been in a relationship had been with Kaelie Whitewillow, which had ended three months ago in a complete fucking mess. And even though they had been together—if together was really what he could call it—for almost eighteen months, it hadn't come close to what he had felt when he was with Sebastian.

Jace shook his head harshly, breathing out heavily through his nose to clear his head, and then set about exploring the house. It was a nice place, decorated probably by Magnus because Alec's interior design would have just been whatever felt comfortable rather than based on what looked good and went together. There were two bedrooms, a main one with an en-suite which would belong to the boys and he didn't go inside other than glancing from the doorway, and then a guest room where there was a double bed in the centre and a fancy port-a-cot set up in the corner, undoubtedly for little Max.

Max.

Jace looked around at photos that were on the walls, sitting on the furniture in the lounge and also in the kitchen. There were a ridiculous amount of photos of the little boy, who looked like an adorable mix between Isabelle and her husband, Simon Lewis. There were also group photos of Alec and Magnus with Isabelle and Simon and Sebastian and a couple of other people that he didn't recognize. There were a few more photos featuring Sebastian and a petite red head with big green eyes.

He went out and got his bag from his bike and dumped it in the corner of the guest room, assuming that that was where he would be staying, and then he did exactly what he told Sebastian.

He had a shower, pulled on a pair of sweatpants and promptly fell asleep on top of the covers of the guest bed.

* * *

"Oi..." someone was poking his leg. "Oi!" Jace shook his head sleepily and then rolled over, looking up at who had woken up. Alec was grinning down at him, his black hair flopping forward over his forehead as he waited for his friend to fully wake up and sit up on the mattress. "Shit, man, you were out of it! We've been home for almost two hours, and we weren't going to wake you up, but it's almost seven and Magnus has dinner ready."

"Shit," Jace sighed and scrubbed his hand over his face, wiping his knuckles into his eyes before standing up. "I don't even know how long I slept."

"You must've needed it," Alec said before leaning forward and wrapping his arms around his cousin in a tight hug. "Fuck, it's been way too long."

"Yeah, I know," Jace gave him a regretful smile, ducking his head as they pulled apart. "Just...Everything. You know how it is." Alec twisted his mouth a little but just jerked his head in a nod before beginning to back out of the room. "Anyway, I'm here now. And I don't plan on going anywhere."

"Did Seb come over and see you? He's been keen to see you ever since I told him you were coming," Alec said conversationally as they walked down the hallway toward the kitchen and lounge area. "He's got a spare key, so he said that he was going to stop by after he dropped Clary off at the airport." They reached the kitchen and there was an incredible smell that instantly hit Jace and he had to bite his lip to stop from letting out a groan of appreciation.

"Jace!" Magnus grinned at the golden haired boy as though they were already close friends. Isabelle had warned Jace in advance about Magnus, that he didn't really respect personal boundaries, and he had also seen a couple of pictures of him, but he still blinked a couple of times when he saw the man. He was still wearing the same clothes that Jace assumed he had worn throughout they day; tight, leather pants, a turquoise button down shirt and a clinging black cardigan. His hair was gelled in a coif and his eyes were ringed in dark eyeliner and turquoise eye shadow. Magnus put down the wooden spoon he was using to stir whatever amazing dish he had in the frying pan and came over to Jace, putting his arms around him, holding him close.

Jace had been right.

The expensive cologne most definitely Magnus'.

"I'm so glad that you finally made it! It's so good to finally meet you!" Magnus was humming out before stepping back and then pressing a kiss to Jace's cheek. There was a sticky residue left, probably from the gloss on the man's mouth, before he turned back to stir the dinner. "And Sebastian text Alec earlier and said that he was going to talk to Jon about getting you a job? It's all working out pretty perfect."

"Yeah," Jace felt a jolt in his stomach, knowing that Sebastian had been talking about him, and quickly covered it up by nodding over at the stove. "So what's for dinner?" Magnus quickly launched into his menu for the evening, Alec grabbing a few beers out of the fridge and handing one over to Jace. The way that Magnus and Alec moved around each other was comfortable and oozed with familiarity. Even though Jace had always lived with his mother, there had never been that warm feeling between them, and the way they had shifted around each other had never been as though they were sharing space, it was more as though they had bubbles around them and were trying to avoid getting to close to each other.

It wasn't the first time he had been jealous of his cousin, but at least now, things were in a position to change for him.

"Izzy, Si and Max are coming over for dinner as well," Alec piped up as he pulled a bottle of wine out of the cupboard and put it on the counter. "They'll be here in about ten minutes." A grin almost broke Jace's face in half, and his eyes were glowing when he heard a car in the driveway. "Or, you know, now." Jace walked toward the door where he could already hear Isabelle's voice calling out to Simon, about grabbing something from the boot of their car. Their voices got closer and closer, and then the door opened and Isabelle was first through the door, looking stunning as usual with her dark hair pulled back in a high pony tail and wearing a red dress with a black jacket over the top.

"Jace!" She squealed out, dropping the bag she was carrying and running toward Jace, her shoes clipping on the wooden floors. She practically jumped on him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and lifting her feet off the ground. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my _god_ , I can't believe you're finally here! It's been way too fucking long!"

"Mama no-no," came a mumble, and Izzy huffed out a laugh against Jace's shoulder as he put her down and then lifted his eyes to look back at the door. There was a little boy being held by Simon Lewis, who Jace had only met on two occasions. They exchanged smiles and then he looked down at the boy.

"Yeah, mama said a bad word," Simon chuckled. Jace knew his eyes were softening as he stared at the little boy, who had brown hair and grey eyes and was clinging to his fathers shoulder.

"Hey, baby boy," Isabelle said softly as she walked over to her husband and son. "This is Jace, he's your Uncle, like Alec." Max looked him up and down with studious eyes before cracking the smallest smile, Jace grinning in response. Then Magnus and Alec came out of the kitchen and Max let out a little squeak and his eyes lit up as the two men walked over and instantly began smothering him with attention.

Isabelle was laughing as the two men fought over who got to hold the little boy first, and then Max was being hurtled away Alec, who was holding him above his head and making noises in an attempt to sound like an airplane. Magnus trailed after them, protesting that he only let Alec hold Max first because he was still tending to dinner. Simon leaned in and gave Isabelle a kiss on the cheek and then reached down to squeeze her ass quickly in a way that made her laugh again and Jace couldn't hold back his smile.

The whole atmosphere just felt warm and inviting, and he was just glad to be a part of it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made a bit of a mistake previously , I uploaded chapter 4 instead of 3 . All fixed up now !

Jace woke up a little after seven the next morning. Back in New York his normal waking time was six in the morning. He would have to check on his mother, make sure that she had actually made it to her bed after a night out drinking far too much, go for a run, get back to the apartment and make breakfast for himself and coffee for Celine. Then he would go to work, bury himself in a job where he liked what he was doing, but didn't like the people he surrounded himself, and then went home. Sometimes on the way home he would stop at a bar, have a few beers before leaving.

But this morning, just like the past few mornings, he had nowhere that he needed to be.

But unlike the past few mornings, he wasn't in a cheap hotel that he wanted to escape as soon as possible.

So he stayed in bed and stared up at the ceiling.

About two years ago, he had thought about coming out here to join his cousins. He was twenty-one and he _hated_ his life. He hated coming home to the tiny apartment that got far too damp in the winter and far too hot in the summer. He hated coming home to his mother, who was either ignoring him or giving him contemptuous looks. He wanted to be around Isabelle and Alec, who clearly loved him.

And then he had met Kaelie, and he had changed his mind. It wasn't as though he had seriously thought about leaving, because at the end of the day, he knew that he wasn't going to be able to leave Celine behind, but Kaelie cemented his reason for staying.

She was a pretty rich girl, who lived in a gorgeous penthouse in the middle of the city, and was studying for a law degree. She was smart and funny and maybe a little bit manipulative, although he didn't realize just how much when he was with her. He really didn't like it when he had to hang out with her friends, because they were all carbon copies of her and mainly talked about their shoes, but he would because it made her happy. He hadn't been looking for anything serious, but he found that he had quite liked her. It was completely different from how he had felt with Sebastian, but it was nice to wake up next to her, make breakfast together in her penthouse and watch her as she got dressed in the early morning sun.

He liked her enough that he went exclusive with her eighteen months. And somewhere along the way it wasn't just this thing that he was having for fun, and he actually thought that it was something else. He started spending some hard earned and saved money on dinners for her and going on trips to places that he really wasn't into but that she seemed to like. Given her cushy upbringing and his very _opposite_ one, they had a difficult time meeting in the middle and it resulted in a lot of compromises, mainly on Jace's part, but he had thought that it was working.

It took him a little while to catch up on the fact that she was just with him because she wanted to try something different from the Ivy League boys that her daddy set her up with.

By the time Jace got out of bed, Magnus and Alec had left, although Alec had sent him a text to tell him that they would be back around five, and he was welcome to anything in the house. He took a shower, knowing that he didn't need to keep it short like he had to back in New York because their hot water ran out ridiculously fast, but he still couldn't stop himself from rushing through washing his hair and soaping up his body and then stepping out about four minutes later. He made himself breakfast and then settled in front of the TV.

He was going to need to make a whole new queue in Netflix, he realized with a huff, although that seemed like a very small price to pay. He found one of those crime drama's that he enjoyed and didn't require too much thought, _Crossing Lines_ , and finished his breakfast, pushing the bowl onto the coffee table in the middle of the room.

Sebastian sent him a text as he was getting ready to go for a walk, to look around the neighbourhood, telling him that Jon was willing to give him a trial. Jace felt a hopeful smile pull at the corners of his mouth as he re-read the text a couple of times, but before he could compose a reply, there was another text coming through, saying that they were going out for a few drinks tomorrow night, and he was invited, and he could officially meet Jon there. Jace just sent a short confirmation text and then shoved his phone in the back pocket of his jeans.

He wondered if Sebastian's girlfriend was going to be there.

That then lead him to him thinking maybe he shouldn't have agreed to go out for drinks the next night.

And then that lead to him getting annoyed, because Sebastian was his _friend_ , nothing more. What they had was altogether only a couple of weeks of fun, over two years ago, and he had to get over that in his head.

Jace spent the rest of the day walking. Usually he would either be running or on his bike if he wanted to burn time, but he wanted to get to know this place. He ended up at a cafe, and ordered himself lunch, trying to cringe outwardly as he paid a steep price for just a sandwich and a smoothie. The waitress was cute, and she kept giving him a look up and down, and then before he left, she came over to him and told him she finished in an hour. Jace smiled idly at her, but didn't really consider the offer. It wasn't that he was a stranger to the whole casual sex thing, because he was probably more into that than what was healthy, it's just he wasn't feeling it today.

Maybe she could read on his face that if she approached him another time he would be more susceptible, because she scribbled her name and number down on a napkin and handed it over to him. He gave her a smile and scrunched it up in his pocket.

The sun was high in the sky as he kept on walking, and he felt it beating down on his bare arms. This would be why Alec and Isabelle and Sebastian were always so tanned when they came to see him in New York. Not to say that there wasn't sun in New York, but it always felt clouded by the buildings and he was almost always inside, working. He guessed it wouldn't be long before that happened again, so he was going to enjoy his freedom while he could.

Magnus cooked again that night, and Alec said to Jace that Jon was looking forward to meeting him. Apparently Jon was a few years older than the boys, twenty-five, and he had brought the garage with some money that was left to him by a grandfather when he had passed. Alec, Jon and Sebastian had been friends since high school, and so it had made sense to all work together. They were all fully qualified mechanics, which made Jace feel a little incompetent, because all he had was his trade certificate from his apprenticeship at the garage that he worked at back in the city.

The conversation tonight was a bit calmer than it had been last night, when Isabelle had been there, dominating most of the talk with her mile a minute chatter, and a lot of the conversation revolved around Max, which Jace and everyone else seemed completely fine with.

Jace found out that Magnus worked as an interior designer, which made complete sense, given how the house looked. Simon worked as an accountant, and apparently worked in the same building as Clary, Sebastian's girlfriend, although they were with different companies. Isabelle was in ECE, which worked well with Max, because it meant that she could spend everyday with him. Magnus was drinking from his glass of red wine, running his finger around the rim of his glass before he tipped his head to the side and turned his catlike eyes toward Jace.

"So you're coming out with us on tomorrow night, right?"

"Yeah," Jace nodded his head once. "Sebastian text me."

"Yeah, he's been pretty excited about you coming back," Alec shot Jace a half smile as he tapped his fingers against the side of his bottle of beer. Jace would deny it if they asked later on, but his chin jutted forward a little too enthusiastically, wondering if his cousin was going to expand on his statement.

Unfortunately, he didn't.

* * *

"And here he is!" Isabelle crowed out from the booth where she and Simon and two others were sitting. Jace rolled his eyes at the bubbliness from the gorgeous dark haired girl, but couldn't stop his smile from pulling at his lips as he slid into the booth next to her. Alec and Magnus were close behind him and sat opposite him, beside the couple, waving their hands to catch the attention of a waitress. "Okay, so, guys, this is Jace!" He gave an awkward wave across at the man and woman sitting opposite them. "Jace, this is Jordan and Maia." They grinned back at him, easy smiles on their faces as they leaned against each other. A round of drinks were brought to the table, and the conversation at the table suddenly became loud, Maia Roberts and Isabelle talking from opposite sides of the table and Alec, Magnus and Simon all trying to carry on a conversation over peoples heads. Jace was more than happy to lean back in the booth and listen in to whatever he could hear.

"Seb!" Jordan Kyle called out as he caught sight of the man coming through the bar. "Jon—over here!" Jace couldn't help but turn around and look in the direction that Jordan was looking in. Sebastian came into view first and Jace knew that he was just playing games in his head, but it seemed as though Sebastian's eyes glittered a little more when they fell on the golden haired boy.

"Jace," Sebastian greeted him softly before sitting down at his side, shuffling up close to him so that the other guy, Jonathon Morgenstern, could sit next to him. Jace swallowed hard, wondering how long he had to wait for his drink, because he needed some alcohol in his system to calm his nerves.

It was ridiculous how warm his body felt by just having Sebastian's thigh pressed up against his own.

"Uh, so, Jace," Sebastian pressed himself against the back of the booth as best as he could, so that Jace could see the man on his other side. "This is Jon. Jon, this is Jace." The two of them gave each other nods, and then thankfully, Sebastian leaned forward and gave a charming smile up to the waitress who had come over to take their drink orders. "You still all about Corona's?" Sebastian threw a grin over his shoulder at Jace, and Jace jerked his head in a nod, and then Sebastian turned back to the waitress and passed on Jace's order along with his own.

The whole atmosphere between the group of friends was so easy and relaxed, and Jace found himself being pulled into their conversations every now and then. Maia worked at the local newspaper and Jordan was with a building firm. Sebastian was in his element here, but he drew Jace out bit by bit, asking him a question every now and then and nudging his elbow into his side when Jace went quiet for too long. Isabelle and Simon were ridiculously adorable together, and Jace couldn't help the swell of disappointment in his chest at how much he had missed by being in New York, rather than being here.

"Okay, I seriously don't understand what the problem was!" Sebastian was laughing, and his arm was jostling against Jace's in a way that he couldn't find annoying even if he tried. "We were just having some fun!"

"You're kidding," Isabelle's upper lip was curled as though she was completely unimpressed, but there was a sparkle in her eyes.

"You guys were practically _naked_!" Maia chimed in.

"We were having a good time!" Jon protested.

"Yeah, it sure looked that way," Isabelle wiggled her eyebrows and Jon let out a laugh.

"I think maybe a little context is required for this conversation," Jace piped up with a laugh, raising his eyebrows at the table.

"Oh, right," Sebastian grinned and turned his body slightly so that he was facing. "Alright, so there was this Dodgers game on, and we had all gone to this bar to watch it. The girls had gone off to do their nails or some shit—" there were grumbles from Maia and Isabelle at that. "—and I don't really know how it happened, but there was this old dude sitting next to us who somehow managed to talk us into drinking games. This guy was like seventy and he fucking drank us all under the table!" Jon and Simon snorted, both grinning wide, and Jace didn't doubt that this was the hundredth time they had told this story.

"He was paying for everything as well!" Jon chimed in. "He was getting the top shelf vodka and bourbon and—"

"So how does this lead to you all being naked?" Jace raised an eyebrow with a smirk.

"We weren't _naked_ ," Sebastian corrected.

"Just _mostly_ naked," Isabelle rolled her eyes.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time!" Simon protested. "We kinda, maybe, went down to the beach and kinda just ran up and down the sand in our underwear?" He looked a little guilty as he peeked through his glasses at his wife, who was rolling her eyes affectionately at him.

"It was just..." Jon shrugged and laughed. "It was the middle of summer and it was really hot." The whole table exploded with laughter and Jace felt bewildered as he looked around at all of them, not quite getting why everyone was laughing.

"It was kinda one of those moments where you just had to be there," Sebastian's voice was suddenly close to Jace's ear, his breath hot against his ear. Jace's throat tightened as he nodded and tried to ignore that Sebastian's arm was now resting against the booth behind his back. It was a completely casual move, trying to stretch out his long limbs, but Jace couldn't help but enjoy the familiarity that came with the motion. "And now that you're here, there's going to be a lot more of those moments," his fingers brushed briefly against Jace's shoulder before suddenly he jerked, bumping his arm against Jon's elbow.

"Shit man, what's your problem?" Jon asked as he glanced at him, picking his tumbler of whiskey and sipping from it.

"My ass is vibrating," Sebastian grumbled as he dug around in his back pocket and pulled out his phone. His eyes widened as he saw who the caller was. "Hey, guys, it's Clary!"

"Ooh, put her on speaker!" Isabelle cried, putting her tall glass filled with some fruity alcoholic mixture aside as she leaned forward. Sebastian answered the call and then put the call on speaker and angled the microphone out so that the girl on the end of the line would be able to hear the rest of the table. "Clary!" Isabelle squealed and there was a laugh from the other end of the line.

"Izzy?" Came a voice.

"We're all here, biscuit!" Magnus joined in with a grin, leaning in closer to the phone.

"Aw, guys, now I miss all your asses," Jace could practically hear the pout from the other end of the line. "You guys at _Georges_?"

"Sure are," Sebastian spoke up.

"Well, I just wanted to ring you to say goodnight. I'm going out with a couple of others from the conference and I don't know when I'll be back at the hotel, so I wanted to make sure I didn't miss you," she told him.

"Aw," Maia grinned. "She was just ringing to say goodnight."

"Shut up, Maia," the voice said with no spite. "I've had to endure so many of those 'no, you hang up first' calls between you and Jordan—you're no better than teenagers!" Maia and Jordan exchanged grins. "Anyway, I'll see you guys all in a week! I miss you all!"

"We miss you too!" Magnus, Alec and Isabelle cried in unison and there was a laugh on the other end of the phone. Jace had to bite his lip to stop them from pursing together in a frustrated line. It was pretty obvious how much everyone liked this girl, Clary, and he didn't know if that made it better or worse. Glad that Sebastian had found someone who was clearly a good person, or upset that he really didn't stand a chance here. Sebastian took his phone off speaker and put it to his ear, turning away from the table slightly so that he could talk to her while the rest of their friends all started talking again. Jace didn't purposefully listen to Sebastian's conversation, but he couldn't help it.

"Yeah, I fucking miss you too," Sebastian was saying quietly, and then laughed. "Okay, yeah, well maybe I just miss you making my dinner—I've been eating a ridiculous amount of take out...Yeah, I love you too. Night." The call then ended and Sebastian put his phone away, shooting a grin back at Jace before he grabbed his beer again.

Jace took in a deep breath through his nose, and under the table, he text the girl who had given him her phone number at the cafe the other day. He had saved it into his phone in case he wanted to meet up with her later.

Her response back was almost immediate, and so when it was closing in around one thirty, and everyone began going their separate ways, Jace muttered to Alec and Magnus that he had other plans and gave the cab driver the address he had been sent.


	4. Chapter 4

Jace didn't get back to Alec and Magnus' until almost three in the morning. The girl from the cafe—Stacey—had been fun. She had been out with her friends before they had met up, so she was looking gorgeous in a sparkling blue dress, wearing a pair of high heels that made her ass look amazing. Her roommate was out of town, so they had the flat to themselves. They started right in the entrance way, Stacey pulling her underwear out from under her dress, kicking them off and laughing as they got stuck around the heel of her shoes. She dropped to her knees, sucking him with fervor, a little bit sloppy and sometimes scraping her teeth along the underside of his cock, but it was still good. They went two more rounds before he called a cab to her apartment building and went home.

On Tuesday morning, Alec woke Jace up at the same time that he and Magnus got up and got ready for work. Jace showered and got dressed, helping Magnus make breakfast for the three of them and then sitting down at the kitchen table.

"So, Seb spoke with Jon a few days ago about you maybe coming in to work with us," Alec began as he drank his morning coffee. "Is that something you want?"

"A job?" Jace raised an eyebrow.

"No, to work with us," Alec replied. "I mean..." Alec pursed his lips together, looking uncomfortable, and then looked over to where Magnus was standing, frying the last couple of eggs. "You and Seb have history, and I know that you're all over it now, but it might still be a little weird?" Jace's fingers tightened around his fork, surprised at the question.

"It'll be fine," Jace said shortly, not wanting to get any further into _that_ particular conversation. "That was years ago, and it was never anything serious." Alec looked as though he accepted that answer and shrugged, going back to his coffee and scrolling through his iPad. Magnus was still looking at Jace as though he was expecting more, but Jace pointedly looked down at his phone, ignoring the look. After breakfast, the Magnus left straight away, giving his partner a kiss on the mouth and wishing Jace good luck.

"We can go in my car," Alec said as they locked up the house and walked outside. "No offence, but I'm not getting on the back of your motorcycle." Jace nodded and followed Alec to where his car was parked. The drive to the garage was quiet, which worked just fine for Jace. Alec had never been a big talker, and Jace was lost in his thoughts, so the music coming from the radio was all that filled the car. "So, Jon is cool—he seemed to like you the other night, although he didn't want to talk about work and shit while we were all out at dinner. But both me and Seb told him that you're good with cars, and that you've got a good work ethic, and that's all that he really wants."

"So there are spots open for hiring?" Jace asked. "Because Sebastian wasn't too sure."

"We're dealing with things okay at the moment, Jon's not actively looking to hire someone else, but one of the guys—Jem—is thinking about leaving. His girlfriend lives in San Bernardino and they're doing the long distance thing at the moment, but he is thinking about moving out there. Things are pretty busy, so even if he doesn't leave, an extra pair of hands around will help," Alec shrugged. "Jon doesn't really care too much, as long as you do your job and get on fine with everyone else."

"Sounds good," Jace leaned forward in his seat when he noticed that the car started slowing down. It was in between a residential and an industrial neighbourhood, a house next to the garage and then a dairy on the other side, then a panel beaters across the road.

"Jon lives next door," Alec said as he pulled into the driveway of the garage, steering the car around to the back of the garage where he could see a couple of other cars parked up, including a motorbike that made his eyebrows raise. It was gorgeous, and he wondered if it was Jon's. Alec followed his gaze and snorted. "You and Sebastian always did have similar taste."

"That's Seb's?" Jace grunted as he swallowed something he didn't quite understand.

Maybe it was a flare of annoyance at Sebastian for once again showing one of the reasons why Jace had fallen for him originally. But that had been years ago. They had both moved on. And so no, it wasn't annoyance. It was just...Old feelings resurfacing because he wasn't used to being around him. And it wasn't as though they ever parted ways with things all resolved, so his heart obviously just hadn't closed things off completely with Sebastian.

Definitely something that he needed to tamper down.

"Come on, let's head in," Alec said as he got out of the car. He started walking toward the back door of the garage, not bothering to wait for Jace to get out of the car or locking it, so obviously the neighbourhood was safe enough. He opened the back door and Jace rolled up the sleeves of the shirt he was wearing before following after him. Alec was already dressed in a pair of oil stained overalls, tied around the waist with a short sleeved shirt on that he clearly didn't mind getting dirty, and he walked over to small office that came off the main garage. "Yo, Jon? Jace is here." Jace looked around at the equipment in the garage as he walked through, eyes skimming over the three men who were already there. Sebastian was one of them, and he gave Jace a welcoming, toothy smile. There was Jordan, who nodded a greeting at him, and a younger guy, who he guessed could be Jem.

"Hey," Jace nodded at Jon as he reached the office, trying not to feel too nervous about meeting him. He knew this wasn't like a normal job interview, more just like a friendly conversation, but he still felt as though he had something to prove. These were his cousins best friends—and Sebastians—and he felt as though he needed to show them what he could do.

"Hi," Jonathon nodded at him. "So Seb and Alec both have said that you're good with cars, been working around them for a while in New York, is that right?" Jace nodded his head, not sure what else he was meant to say. "Well, we could use an extra person. One of the guys here is thinking about leaving, and even if he wasn't, we're always quite busy, so it's hard if someone wants time off." Jace once again nodded. "I don't really have the downtime to take on a new apprentice or anything, which is why I haven't gotten around to hiring anyone, but if you're all fully trained and shit, then you'll work well. I'll give you a few weeks trial, see how you fit, and then we'll take it from there?"

"That sounds fair," Jace agreed, mainly because it sounded far, far more than fair, but he didn't want to look too overeager.

"Can you start today?" Jonathon looked over what Jace was wearing, a pair of jeans and a button down shirt. It wasn't the nicest stuff that he owned, but it was still tidy and clean, and not the sort of thing that he would usually wear to work. "We're about the same size if you wanted to borrow a pair of my sweatpants and a shirt from my place next door," Jonathon jerked a thumb over his shoulder, Jace's eyebrows lifting in surprise. "And then find a pair of overalls that fit and get started." Jonathon got up from the desk he was sitting at and Jace saw that he was wearing his overalls similar to Alec, tied at his waist. "I'll see you out there—I need to open up," he nodded at the pair before brushing past them to go into the main part of the garage.

"That seemed..." Jace pursed his lips together as he watched Jonathon walk to the front of the garage and press a button on the wall which started lifting up the roller door that faced out toward the street. "Too easy."

"Sometimes life's easy," Alec commented, and his words were careful as he looked sideways at his cousin. "Anyway, Jon always leaves the side door unlocked, and his bedroom is the first door on the left. He'll have his clothes spread out everywhere in the room, just find something that looks clean."

"Sounds promising," Jace responded wryly, and Alec grinned before turning to go back into the garage. Jace walked toward the back door, easily seeing where Jonathon would go between the garage and his own property. The wooden fence had a gate which was pushed open with a concrete block to keep it from closing, and by the way grass was growing around the block, he was guessing that it was permanently held open. He walked up the back steps to the house, tentatively pushing at the door and then stepping inside. He felt like an intruder, just stepping inside the house, but he moved quickly to get to Jonathon's bedroom so that he could find a change of clothes. He found a pair of a sweatpants and a shirt—the pants were a little bit long and the shirt was a bit tight—and folded his own clothes, planning on leaving them in Alec's car before going back into the garage.

As Jace turned to leave, he saw a single framed photo on the table beside the door and he couldn't help but pick it up and look at it. It was a group shot, at the beach. Isabelle and Simon had their arms wrapped around each other, Magnus and Jon were laughing and looking sideways at each other, Alec was pulling the fingers, and Sebastian had his arm around the red head Jace now knew was Clary, who was holding Max on her hip. They all looked so completely comfortable with each other, so happy, and he couldn't help but feel that _that_ was so far out of reach.

Jace shook off the feeling, putting the photo back down and leaving the house.

The day went surprisingly well. Not that Jace thought it would go _badly_ , because he was good when it came to cars, he knew exactly what he was doing, but he was still a bit worried about needing to fit in with everyone. Alec was mainly quiet, just like he usually was, although he laughed and joked with the rest of them when they took a lunch break. Jon was clearly the one in charge when they all settled into their routine, making sure people were filling in paperwork as they finished the cars, and also divvying up the work load. Sebastian was second in charge, and a lot more relaxed, but still extremely good at his job, and he was also the one who had control over the stereo. Jem was the youngest, and he was loud and full of energy, and Jace could imagine that if he did left, his absence would be felt.

When the day ended, Jon gave him a nod and a half smile before disappearing into his office, and Sebastian came over to him, slapping a hand down on his shoulder and giving him a squeeze.

"Jon hasn't really said anything yet," he stated with a grin, and it wasn't fair how attractive Sebastian looked when he was slightly sweaty with his hair pushed back and some grease smeared on his neck. "But you're good at what you do, and that's obvious. I don't think there's going to be any problems with you getting a job here, if that's what you want."

"Yeah," Jace nodded. "Yeah, that would be good." Sebastian flashed him a smile.

"Okay, well, I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah, see you," Jace returned his smile before Sebastian turned around to go toward the office where Jonathon had gone.

"You ready?" Alec called from the doorway and Jace lifted his eyes to where his cousin was standing, giving him an expectant look. Jace nodded and walked over to him, saying goodbye to Jem who was doing some last minute work on a minivan that had been dropped off by an exasperated soccer mum. The kid gave a cheerful smile and waved, and then Jace was following Alec outside to the car. Alec was checking his phone when they got into the car, pausing before putting his key in the ignition, and Jace looked over at him when he noticed the concerned expression on his face.

"You okay?" Jace asked.

"Uh, yeah," Alec frowned as he put his phone in the cup holder between their seats. "Magnus has sent me a couple of texts, saying that there's some problem, and that we'll talk about it when we get home."

"Is he okay?" Jace's tone was concerned.

"Yeah, he said he was fine, but apparently it was important enough for him to send me three texts," Alec muttered as he put his seat belt on and started reversing down the driveway. Jace could see that Alec was worried, but he didn't say anything to push the matter on the way home. There was nothing more that Alec knew anyway, so it wasn't like they were going to get any answers by just voicing their concerns. The ride home took longer than getting to work in the afternoon traffic, but it was nothing compared to rush hour in New York. When they got home, there were no clear indications about what was wrong, but appearances could be deceiving. Alec parked his car and the pair got out, going inside to where Magnus was cooking dinner. "Mags? What's going on?"

"Alexander," Magnus turned around, and there was a half smile on his face, but he winced a little when he saw Jace. "Right, yes, I sent you a couple of texts."

"Yeah, and you didn't tell me what was wrong," Alec sounded annoyed.

"Ye-ah," Magnus lifted up his hand to run through his hair. "My grandmother called."

"Is she alright?" Alec asked, and Jace shifted in the doorway, feeling out of place as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Uh, she's fine, and so is my mother," Magnus said. "Except a pipe burst in their apartment and you know what their landlords like. He told them that he would get onto it, but he couldn't give her an exact time, and so they've got nowhere to go, and so..." he clenched his teeth together. "So they asked if they could stay here."

"Of course," Alec answered instantly, and then clicked with the problem. "Oh," he looked over at Jace. Jace shifted from foot to foot and tried not to pay attention to the panic in his chest. "Okay, no that's okay, we can work this out." Alec stepped back from his partner and clicked his tongue in his mouth. "I mean, you can always sleep in the lounge..." Alec trailed off as he looked through to their lounge. Their house was in no way small, not like the apartment building Jace and his mother had lived in in New York but if there were two extra people coming to stay, and then him as well, it was going to be too crowded.

"It's okay, I can...I can figure something out," Jace replied, giving them a strained smile.

"Hey—we're not just throwing you out!" Magnus stated. "You're not going anywhere til we figure this out. _Together_." Jace's smile grew a little bit more at that, and his cousins boyfriend reached over to give him a friendly nudge with his elbow before his eyes widened. "Hey! What about Seb and Clary? They've got a shit tonne of space!" Alec's eyes darted over to Jace, a contemplative look on his face.

"They _do_ have a lot of room for just the two of them," he began slowly. Jace tried not to outwardly cringe at the idea of living with his ex-lover and his current girlfriend, who it sounded like he was in complete and utter love with. But he didn't have all that many options, and if they were willing to put him up while he got enough to money scraped together to find his own place, or even until Magnus' mother and grandmother moved back into their place, then it would be helpful.

"Okay," Jace stated, hoping his voice didn't sound as grating to them as it did to his own ears. "I'll give him a call."


	5. Chapter 5

Magnus' mother and grandmother were sweet woman, both of them obviously feeling bad about the fact that Jace was needing to find other accommodation because of what had happened. Devi Bane, his mother, had fussed over him and made sure he had plenty of blankets and pillows to make himself comfortable on the pull out couch. Diana Bane was similar, insisting that they could book a hotel for the next few weeks as they waited for their apartment to be cleaned out and made inhabitable again. They hadn't realized that they were going to be putting Jace out by coming to stay with Magnus and his partner when they had first spoken to him.

Jace had shaken his head, feeling a little stunned at the hospitality being shown to him by two woman who had never met him before. Even when they had gone to bed that night, the older woman sharing the spare bed for the night since he was on the pull out couch, the only other bed in the house, they kept making sure that he was okay. It had taken him a while to get to sleep, trying not to think about the fact that tomorrow he was going to spending the night _at Sebastian's house_.

"You know, we could maybe work something else out," Alec said as he and Jace walked out of the house the next morning, toward Alec's car and Jace's bike.

"No, it's totally fine," Jace tried to reassure his cousin as he put his bag on the back of his bike and strapped it on. "Sebastian said I could stay with him, and if things get too crowded there, I'll figure something out from that point." Alec pursed his lips together, looking back toward the house before back at Jace.

"Look, I never really asked about what happened between you and Sebastian," Alec began slowly. "I mean, I _know_ of the stuff that happened but I don't know..." he broke awkwardly and scrunched up his nose. "I mean, I don't know how serious things were, I guess is what I'm trying to say. But Seb seemed...He seemed pretty hung up on your for a while, and I kind of got the impression that you felt the same way about him." Jace found it hard to swallow as he looked away from his cousin. "I know you said that you were fine working with him, but it's a little bit different to be _living_ with him...And Clary."

"It's going to be fine, Alec," Jace finally said as he picked up the helmet for his bike. "Just like I said." Alec didn't look as though he was convinced, but just like the other morning, he didn't say anything else. Alec drove ahead of Jace to the garage in his car, with Jace behind on his bike. When he got into work, Sebastian grinned at him from the other side where he was standing beside a Porsche next to Jem, and Jon jerked his head by way of greeting.

Once he got to work under the hood of the car, Jace felt a lot more at ease, ignoring who he was going home with at the end of the day.

* * *

"Do we need to head back to Alec and Mags' house to pick up the rest of your stuff?" Sebastian asked as he came over to where Jace was scrubbing his hands.

"Nah, I've only got the one bag," Jace replied as he finally decided he had probably got as much oil and grease off his hands as was ever going to happen. "I've stored it over there." Sebastian glanced over to where Jace's bag was and then back at Jace, an expression on his face that Jace couldn't quite recognize. But then he blinked and grinned.

"Well, that's easy. You wanna go?"

"Ready when you are," Jace nodded, shoving his hands into the front of the ratty pair of jeans he had worn. Jem had already left, after giving them one final off key and extremely loud rendition of Beyoncé's _Crazy In Love_.

"Alright, let's head out," Sebastian nodded, waving over his shoulder to Jon and Alec, who were still in the garage. Alec raised an eyebrow at Jace, as though to make sure that his cousin was okay. Jace wasn't a hundred percent that he _was_ okay, because he was still feeling a bit nervous about the fact that he was going home with the blonde he had slept with on more than one occasion and had pined over for a long time. But he flashed a quick smile at Alec before reaching down to pick up his canvas bag from where he had stashed it by the door to keep it out of the sun throughout the day. "So, you good to just follow me home? We don't live all that far away."

"Yeah, sounds good," Jace nodded as they walked over to where their bikes were parked close to each other. It wasn't even fair how good Sebastian looked sitting astride his expensive bike. The sweatpants he was wearing had been riding low on his hips all day, making all sorts of sweaty scenarios play out in Jace's head despite how much he tried to push it out of his head, and now that he had pulled on a hoodie and a motorbike helmet and swung his leg over the seat of his bike, and Jace ws getting a whole new flood of fantasies.

_He had survived years without Sebastian, and he had only been back for a week and his mind was already betraying him._

"You ready?" Sebastian's voice was muffled from behind his helmet as he looked over his shoulder to where Jace was on his own bike. Jace blinked and nodded his head. Sebastian flipped down the eye protector and turned on the engine of his bike. Jace turned on his own, and a moment later they were steering their bikes down the driveway and onto the road. Jace kept a few paces behind Sebastian in case he made any turns. He was right when he had said that he didn't live that far away, because after driving through the residential area for a couple more minutes, before Sebastian was slowing down. He turned down a paved driveway and Jace followed after him. The house was bigger than Magnus and Alec's, with a large backyard. There was a garage at the end of the driveway that was closed.

"This is..." Jace glanced around, over at the large deck that wound from the back of the house and around the side. There were a couple of trees at the back of the yard, well kept flower gardens, clipped grass, an expensive barbeque on the deck next to some outdoor furniture, chairs and a table. "This is nice," he concluded.

"I know," Sebastian murmured as he looked around as well. "We're really lucky. One of Clary's dad is a property developer, and so he rents the place out to us for pretty cheap. Same with the house next to Jon's garage." That was a strange way of putting it, 'one of Clary's dad's' Jace noted but just nodded in agreement with Sebastian who approached the garage and unlocked it, jerking the roller door upward. Inside was a silver car, parked to one side. There was a surf board, a lawn mower and a couple of boxes on the other side of the garage and Sebastian wheeled his bike inside. "Just park your bike in here, I'll have to find the spare set of keys for you, so you've got one for the garage and the house." He waited for Jace to bring his bike into the garage as well and grab his canvas bag off the back before they headed up the couple of steps toward the back door. Sebastian opened the sliding door wide to let air circulate after being closed up all day and Jace tightened his grip on the handles of his canvas bag as he stepped into the home of Sebastian and his girlfriend.

The lounge was nice, a big TV secured on the wall beside a door that lead off to another part of the house, with electronics underneath; a stereo, Playstation 4 and Blu-Ray player among them. There was an L shaped sofa, a two seater couch and an arm chair, with a wooden and glass coffee table in the middle, a side table propped between the the couch and the arm chair with a couple of knick knacks on it. There was a photo on top of the shelves with all the electronics, one of Sebastian with his group of friends, including Clary, who was laughing and looking unfairly pretty in a blue dress. On the wall there was a large canvas painting and even Jace, who really knew nothing about art, could tell that it was good. It was a close up of a flower, the centre a smattering of green, and the four petals that were on the canvas were in different shades of blue and purple as they reached for the edges of the painting.

"Clary's," Sebastian nodded at the painting as he noticed what Jace was looking at. "She does painting when she's not busy."

"She's good," Jace responded, hoping that he didn't sound begrudging when he said it.

"She is," Sebastian smiled proudly, and Jace could tell—not for the first time—that the man was smitten.

"What does she do for a living?" Jace asked.

"She's an insurance investigator," Sebastian said before looking down at the coffee table and wincing at the two empty beer bottles that were sitting there. "She's away at a conference in Boston at the moment which is why I can get away with leaving my rubbish out overnight," he winced playfully as he picked up the two bottles and walked through the archway into the kitchen. "Anyway, so this is the kitchen, and the laundry is through there—" he waved his arm at a door to a small room off the kitchen. "Obviously you've already seen the lounge, so if we just go through here..." he lead Jace through the doorway on the other side of the lounge. "That's Clary's room, for her painting and all that shit." Jace looked into the room, which had an easel with another canvas on it, half painted in swirling yellows and pinks and blues, forming the shape of a woman's head. There were painting supplies all over a long desk, and more canvases leaning up against the wall.

"She's _really_ good," Jace repeated his previous words.

"Yeah," Sebastian grinned before carrying on. "That's the bathroom. Uh, there's a lot of products and shit in the shower, just try to avoid it. I swear out of all of it, only one of the body washes are mine, the rest is all hers," he grinned again. "Just kick it all to the side or whatever if it gets in your way when you're in there," he pointed to the room right at the end of the hall, the door partially open. "That's our room, that's the spare room with a heap of our junk in it," he jerked his thumb at the door next to it. "And then this is your room," he pushed open the last door.

It was similar to the spare bedroom at Alec and Magnus', a double bed against one wall with long windows, a set of drawers against the other wall and a long bookshelf, completely filled with books. They were a mixed lot of books, Jace noticed at a quick glance, some of them looked like trashy romance novels, and then he saw a couple of car magazines tucked in there as well.

"So Clary does most of the cooking around here. I can do some of the basics, but I was thinking that tonight I could just order us some pizza and we could watch something on Netflix?" Sebastian suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds perfect," Jace answered honestly, and Sebastian grinned.

"Okay, I'll go order the pizza. You shower first, the towels are in the cupboard beside the bathroom, just hang it over one of the hooks behind the door in the bathroom when you're done," Sebastian replied. "Shout out when you're done, and I'll get in the shower before the pizza guy gets here." Jace blinked as he remembered back to when he and Sebastian had squeezed into the tiny shower at his apartment back at New York, and then blinked again as he tried to get rid of the memory.

The pair of them took turns showering, and Jace ensured that he stayed in the spare bedroom after he got out of the shower with the door firmly shut until the pizza guy arrived and Sebastian was most definitely fully dressed before he came out. They settled down on the L shaped sofa together, Sebastian up where the bend was, leaning against the back while Jace sat on the straight side, twisting his head to look up at the TV. They had fumbled through Netflix for a while before Sebastian discovered that Jace had never seen _Sense8_ and insisted that that was what they were going to be binging on.

They shared the pizza and had a couple of beers before falling into companionable silence as they watched the show. It was good, Jace could definitely see that, but after the first two episodes, he had to admit that he wasn't really paying any more attention to the show. Because Sebastian propped his legs up on the couch and spread them out so that his toes were touching Jace's thigh, seemingly completely unaware of how that affected Jace. The golden haired man slumped down further into the cushions of the sofa, dozing off to the comforting hum of the TV and the light weight of Sebastian's feet against his leg.


	6. Chapter 6

"Come on—we'll make a stop before going home. There is this amazing burger place down on the water front!" Sebastian grinned over at Jace. "Let's go down there for dinner."

"Are you talking about _Taki's Diner_?" Jem's eyes lit up with interest. "Is this an open invitation or is this just for the Sebastian, Clary and Jace household?" Sebastian laughed at the hopeful expression on Jem's face.

"Yeah, sure thing," he nodded before looking over the younger mans shoulder and toward where Jonathon was packing up everything in the office. "Yo, Jon! You want to come down with us to get _Taki's Diner_?" Jonathon's nod was clear through the window and Sebastian grinned and looked back at Jem and Jace. "Okay, so we're all sorted. You want to get a ride with one of us or you want to come down with Jon?"

"I'll wait for Jon, you guys go ahead," Jem grinned and Jace couldn't help but smile at him. The kid always seemed so happy, and even if he was an absolutely terrible singer, Jace liked the way Jem sang loudly along with the radio, especially raising his voice when a terrible pop song was playing.

"Okay, we'll meet you down there," Sebastian said and waved a hand at Jace, encouraging him to follow.

It had been three days since Jace had gone to stay with Sebastian. It had been relaxed and easy. After work they went home, took turns showering and then convened in the lounge. They had ordered in every night that week, Sebastian saying that he was pretty much useless in the kitchen when Clary wasn't around, although he could make amazing pancakes, which he would make in the weekend. Jace made sure to tidy up after himself, which wasn't a hardship, since he could be a bit of a clean freak anyway, and he kept bringing up the subject of payment with Sebastian, who just brushed it off and said that they would sort it out when Clary was back in town.

They reached the waterfront about twenty minutes later, taking a little bit longer than usual because of the Friday night traffic, but nowhere near as long as it would have taken if they were in an actual car. The girl behind the counter seemed to recognize Sebastian because she waved at them when they came inside.

"You seem to have some pretty regular spots around here," Jace noted as they hauled themselves up on the barstools beside the windows that were wide open and looked out over the beach and down to where the waves were rolling in.

"Lived here all my life," Sebastian shrugged. "Most of us have, actually."

"Really?" Jace's eyebrow quirked.

"Yup," Sebastian nodded. "I mean, you already know that Alec and Izzy have been here forever, and so have I. Izzy left for a few years when she was fresh out of high school to go to Boston for a bit, which you already know—" Jace vaguely remembered it being mentioned in one of the sporadic conversations that he had had, and he nodded. "Clary and Jon have also been here since they moved from New York when they were teenagers."

"Clary and Jon lived in New York?" Jace asked.

"Yeah...Their parents have a bit of a complex relationship, and so they traveled between New York and LA for a while, before moving here permanently when Clary was eleven and Jon was fourteen. They moved in down the block from my parents house, and so we all started hanging out. Or at least, me and Jon did, Clary got on well with Izzy and Simon, but they didn't really start hanging out with the rest of us for a few years," Sebastian explained. Jace was about to open his mouth to respond when there was movement behind them and he lifted his eyes to see Jem and Jonathon coming their way.

"I need to eat," Jem groaned as he jumped up onto the barstool next to Jace while Jonathon got onto the one by Sebastian. "Seriously, I want about sixty burgers with a side of fries for every single one."

"I don't think Clancy will be very happy when I pass that on to him," the waitress appeared behind them, giving them all a wide smile. Jace appraised her as he turned around, the way her blonde hair was tied high on her head in a peppy pony tail, and she was wearing a pair of cut denim shorts and a tight sleeveless shirt that showed off a strip of skin across her lower stomach. Jonathon turned around in his stool and smirked at the blonde. "Hey, babe," the waitress reached up and kissed his cheek.

"Hey, how's it going? You guys seem busy tonight," Jonathon replied as he looped an arm around her waist and giving her a squeeze as he looked around the diner. "Think you'll still be getting off at eight."

"Hell yes," the blonde nodded. "I'm not pulling any overtime tonight, I've been covering Jane's ass for the past two weeks, _she's_ the one staying late if it's still busy."

"You need me to pick you up?" Jonathon asked.

"Yup," she nodded with a grin. "Anyway, I better get your orders and head back." The rest of the group seemed to know exactly what they wanted and so Jace had to read over the menu quickly so that the waitress wasn't waiting long after they had placed their order. She told them they would have their meals in about fifteen minutes and then skipped away after giving Jonathon another kiss on the cheek.

"Oh, and that's Lydia," Sebastian finally commented, giving the waitresses name. "Her and Jon have been going out for the past couple of months."

"Jon's pretty whipped," Jem teased and the older man raised an eyebrow at the younger one.

"I really don't think you've got any ground to stand on when it comes to being whipped, given you drop everything for your girl," Jonathon replied with a smirk. Jem just shrugged, not looking at all bothered. "And speaking about being whipped," Jonathon lifted his eyes to look at Sebastian, and Jem laughed. "Clare is back tonight, right?"

"Yup," Sebastian nodded. "Simon is bringing her back from the airport since he's working late out in that area tonight." Jace swallowed, hoping that the way his lips twitched wasn't noticeable as he looked back out the open windows to the ocean, feeling a little uncomfortable at the mention of the girlfriend that he _knew_ existed but that he hadn't met yet. "We're all still on for the beach this weekend, right? Tess coming out?"

"She's coming down tomorrow morning, and then heading back late Sunday night," Jem nodded.

"Is that your girlfriend?" Jace surmised as he looked over to the younger boy, and he nodded again.

"We went to school together here, but then she moved to study," Jem replied. "Long distance thing is kind of hard, but we're making it work." Conversation shifted, and then they were talking about the new movies coming out over the next few months, and Jon was teased some more when Lydia came back with their food and he gave her a lingering kiss. It was easy, just like at the garage, and Jace felt comfortable, and at him, as though he had been a part of this family for years.

* * *

"Hey, Jace?" Sebastian said as they stepped into the dark house. It was almost eleven o'clock, Jace hadn't realized how late it had gotten when they were down at the burger bar, not even noticing as the sky had turned dark and the people on the beach pulled some clothes over their swimming outfits. Lydia had ended up joining them after a few hours, and they had had a few more lots of chips between them and a couple of beers, and it had been nice, but Jace couldn't help but continue to think that tonight Clary was coming home, and things were probably going to change. "I just..." he took in a deep breath and Jace wished that he could see his friends face. They had just walked into the lounge and Sebastian hadn't yet turned on the light, and there was only hazy light from the moon. "We haven't really talked about Clary."

"I didn't realize we needed to," Jace responded quietly, his stomach tightening uncomfortably.

"I just wanted you to know that nothing's going to change—you know, between us," Sebastian continued, and he shuffled forward slightly, and Jace realized that they were now standing quite close together. In fact, when there was a breeze through the doorway, Jace could smell the scent of Sebastian's cologne so strongly that his nose twitched. "I know that we've got history, and I know that it was a long time ago and we've both moved on—" Jace was glad that it was dark because his eyes would probably give him away. "—and that's cool. But these past couple of days have been awesome, having you back, and it's been good because it's just been the two of us. I just don't want you to think that Clary coming back is going to change anything. We can still watch TV, go out for burgers with the boys—she's totally fine with you being here, and she's real chill."

"Thanks, Seb," Jace managed to say, even though he was still feeling a little bit stifled being in such close proximity to him, while being completely surrounded in darkness. "Uh..." he cleared his throat. "I'm going to have a shower and head to bed."

"Okay, see you in the morning," there was a flash of white in the dark, Sebastian sending a smile his way, and then Jace was quickly walking in the direction of the hallway. He bumped into the corner of the couch on the way, but recovered and almost sprinted to the bathroom.

It was just old feelings resurfacing.

It was because it felt so easy and relaxed and comfortable, and Clary hadn't been here, so it felt like old times.

He could easily push that down.

It would go away.

Jace showered quickly and brushed his teeth, leaving the bathroom with the towel wrapped around his waist as he crossed the hall to his bedroom. His ankle caught the corner of the door, kicking it closed behind him, although his kick hadn't been quite powerful enough to close it all the way. He turned on the lamp beside the bed and glanced around the room which was now starting to look a little more lived in that the guest bedroom it had been before. He hadn't properly unpacked yet, because despite what Sebastian and the other said, he really didn't know how things were going to be when Clary came back, so he didn't want to get comfortable and then end up having to leave. But most of his things had ended up out of his canvas bag and on the chair in the corner, or in the washing basket if he'd worn them to work.

It was around eleven-thirty by the time he turned off the bedside lamp and climbed into bed, plugging his phone in and putting it on the side table. He had only had four beers when he was at the burger joint, but other than the burger and chips that he had had, he hadn't eaten, so the alcohol seemed to be swirling around in his head.

It had been about half an hour and he was almost asleep when he heard the front door shutting firmly and then a loud exclaim from the lounge, which was directly behind the wall that his headboard was pressed against. His eyes flew open and there was a strange feeling in his chest as he heard the tones of a female voice, and he guessed that Clary was home. Jace could hear the voices of the couple speaking to each other but they were low enough that he couldn't actually make out what they were saying. That tight feeling in his chest just got worse when the talking _stopped_ and he heard a squeak of shoes scraping over the wooden floors.

Jace instantly regretted not shutting his door properly as he heard the shuffling feet get closer and then a thud as the lounge door hit against the wall.

" _Shit_." That was a girl's voice. Clary's. Soft and a little husky, and she followed it up with a giggle that was quickly smothered, and then she let out a short squeal and another laugh, this time it wasn't cut off. She sounded genuinely happy and Jace took in a deep breath, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to force his brain to turn off, to ignore what was happening outside the walls of his bedroom.

There was another bump, this time in the hallway, getting closer to his bedroom door. He could hear the soft mumblings and the slick sound of mouths coming together, and Jace shifted uncomfortably in his bed. In all fairness, they probably thought that he was asleep, since his light had been out for over half an hour and it was nearing midnight. They also probably weren't used to sharing their house with overnight guests, so trying to keep down their interlude was the last thing on their mind—especially after they hadn't seen each other for two weeks.

"Fuck, I've missed you," Sebastian groaned, his voice low and gravelly, and the tone did all sorts of things to Jace, and his cock jerked in the briefs he was wearing, completely against his will. "You smell so... _Fucking good_ ," his words were a bit muffled, and Jace was ashamed to admit that he was straining to hear what they were saying. Sebastian was probably speaking against her skin, his face buried in her neck or maybe even making it's way down her chest to kiss her breasts.

Jace bit down on his lower lip to stop himself from groaning out loud, not wanting to alert them to the fact that he was still awake and blatantly listening.

There was a thud and from the direction of the footsteps on the floor, Jace was guessing that they were heading to the bedroom. Part of him hoped that they would close their bedroom door so that he wouldn't be able to hear them anymore, but another part of him hoped that they would keep it open.

There was a throaty moan that he knew was Sebastian and his cock jumped again, this time bringing it to completely erect, pressing against the band of his briefs. His hand twitched at his side, his fingers itching to touch himself through the material. Things went quiet for a few moments, and he wondered if they had stopped, but then he heard the moan again— _Sebastian's_ moan—and he couldn't help himself. It felt wrong—it _was_ wrong—but he lifted his hand and palmed himself through his briefs.

"Come on, Clary," Sebastian's voice was rough. "Fuck, your mouth is good...Fuck..." Jace's whole body was on edge, now that he knew exactly what was happening. Clary was sucking off Sebastian, maybe she was laying on the bed and he was braced over her, maybe she was on her knees on the ground and he was fucking her mouth—that's what he used to love, and Jace loved being on the floor in front of him. Jace's teeth bit so hard into his lower lip that he wondered if he had broken the skin, but then he was putting his hand underneath his briefs and wrapped a hand around his cock.

The pressure felt so good he could have cried, and the hand that wasn't clasped around his cock scratched over his thigh.

He remembered one night back in New York. They were drunk, and Jace had ended up on his knees on the hard, wooden floors. Sebastian had his hands in his hair and was jerking his hips forward so that his cock was driving hard down Jace's throat. Jace's eyes were shut as he remembered that night, and then mingled together with the moans coming from just down the hall from the exact man who had been the focus of so many of his fantasies, had him on edge almost straight away.

"On the bed, babe," Sebastian's voice was so low, but Jace was determined to hear as much as he could. He was in too deep now anyway, and there was no way he was going to be able to go back to sleep if he didn't get off. There were some muffled thumps, maybe the two of them getting positioned on the bed, and he wondered what position they were in. If Clary was going to be on top of him, riding him. Or if Jace was going to have her on her back, legs in the air, slamming her into the bed. There was some talking that he couldn't quite hear, far too low, intimate words directly into one anothers ears. "You look so good like this..." Sebastian was talking a little louder now, so they must be positioned a little further apart. "On your hands and knees..."

"Yeah, well, if you like it so much, is there a reason that you're not fucking me yet?" Clary spoke properly for the first time, and even though her voice was heavy with lust, there was a teasing edge to it. Jace had seen photos of her, she was a pretty girl, and it sounded as though she didn't take things too seriously either, if she could joke around in the middle of sex.

He would probably really like her if she wasn't currently getting done by the hottest guy he had ever met who also happened to be his ex-lover.

There was the sound of a slap, a hand on skin, and Jace's whole body arched off the bed as he put two and two together, and was envisioning Sebastian slapping Clary's ass. Then there was barely any other noise, other than the grunts and sighs from the pair, and the dull sound of skin on skin.

Jace twisted his hand around the head of his cock, spreading the come and pressing his thumb against the frenulum. His other hand cupped his sac, rolling them in his hand, squeezing them, tugging at them. He started jacking himself faster, his toes curling into the sheet of the bed, and he had to shove one of his hands into his mouth as he finally came to keep himself from shouting out. Come splattered against his chest, and he was glad that he wasn't wearing a shirt or else it would have been completely covered.

He laid in bed, breathing in shakily as he slowly recovered, and a first minutes later, he heard the tell-tale moan of Sebastian coming, and a whimpering pant as Clary did as well.


	7. Chapter 7

Jace wasn't too sure what he was going to be walking into when he got up, so he took his time before getting out of bed and leaving his room. His first step was to the bathroom, to use a damp wash cloth to wipe down his stomach and chest after his crude job of cleaning up with a one of his shirts last night. He rinsed out the cloth once he was done and then took it back to his room to add to his pile of washing that he was going to do that weekend. After getting dressed, he walked out tentatively to the lounge.

"Morning," Sebastian was standing in the door of the kitchen, wearing only a pair of loose sweatpants that were low on his hips, his tanned torso and unfairly pretty chest and toned stomach on full display. "You want some coffee? I've just done a pot."

"Yeah, that'd be great," Jace nodded as he came into the lounge, looking over his shoulder to where the TV was playing some fishing documentary. "Uh...Where's your girl?"

"Clary's out," Sebastian replied, his voice muffled from where he was back in the kitchen. "I think she's with her parents this morning, and then she's going out with Maia and a couple of the other girls, catching up since she's been away for the past few weeks." He came back into the lounge with a second cup of coffee in his hand, holding it out to Jace. Jace took it from him and sipped it out, smiling at the fact Sebastian had made the coffee exactly the way that he liked it.

Sebastian had made coffee for Jace exactly once in the past week, but he remembered the way that Jace had taken it.

That meant a stupid amount to the golden haired man.

"Anyway, I was thinking that we could go out today," Sebastian continued.

"Uh, out?" Jace raised an eyebrow, surprised at the statement. "I thought that you would be spending the day with Clary." Sebastian shrugged a shoulder and walked back into the kitchen, Jace trailing after him and leaning against the door frame. "You know, since she's back in town after being away for the past few weeks."

"Yeah, she wants to catch up with her family and her friends," Sebastian replied as he took another sip of his coffee and then started on the dishes, a couple of bowls and spoons, so it appeared as though Clary had eaten breakfast before she had left tat morning. "That's okay, we caught up last night, and then she'll be back tonight, after she's gone out with her girls." Jace couldn't help but be surprised at how blase Sebastian seemed, since it was clear how much he loved his girlfriend, but he nodded.

"So what were you thinking?'

"Paint balling," Sebastian grinned over his shoulder at Jace, and Jace had to quickly lift his eyes from where they had settled on Sebastian's ass as he bent over the sink.

"You wanna go paint balling?" Jace laughed.

"Yeah—why? You to cool for paint balling?" Sebastian gave him a pointed look and Jace shook his head, laughing again.

"No, it's just that...It's just that I haven't been paint balling in so long. I think since...Since maybe when the Lightwoods came into the city for my thirteenth birthday." It had been a good weekend.

"Then it sounds like it's time you went again," Sebastian grinned. "Maia picked up Clary so we'll take her car today. Go get dressed and ready, and then we can head out." Jace nodded, taking another moment to appreciate Sebastian's muscles back as he turned back to the sink and continued with the dishes. Jace finished his coffee in his room as he got dressed, finding the last pair of clean sweats that he had and making a mental note to do a load of washing when they got back.

It was the first time he had gotten into Clary's car, even though he had been parking his bike next to it for the past couple of days. It was surprisingly clean, especially compared to the woman's cars he had gotten into in the past; usually they were messy with make up and nail polish and clothes. There was a small tube of moisturizer, and a couple of hair ties, and a receipt for two large of coffee in the centre console, but other than that, the car seemed empty. Sebastian seemed happy to drive in quiet, the radio turned on, and as they drove, Jace thought back to when they had been together previously.

* * *

Sebastian had come into the city with Isabelle and Alec, when he was nineteen. The Lightwood siblings—Jace's cousins—made an effort to come into the city every couple of months to see him. He wasn't always able to get time off work, usually he could only afford one or two of the days that they were there, but they still did things before and after. Sebastian was their friend, and Jace had to admit that he was a little affronted when they told him that someone else would be coming with them to New York, a bit like he was intruding. Apparently he had an aunt in New York that he was visiting but after he and Jace met, it sounded as though he completely blew off that visit.

It had been weird, because Jace had never been attracted to a man before, but it had just happened the moment they were introduced. He was funny, and charismatic, and Jace wasn't someone who just opened up and let people in, but there was something about Sebastian that just made him want to tell him everything.

The four of them went to Central Park and got ice creams before settling down on the grass to watch the sunset. Jace had shifted his position on the grass and his hand had unintentionally overlapped his fingers with Sebastian's. He had made a move to pull them away, but Sebastian had crooked two of his fingers to prevent Jace from pulling his hand away. Jace had no idea what was going on, but he could barely breathe. He had to try and keep a conversation going with Alec and Isabelle while Sebastian was doing something as simple as touching his _hand_.

Alec and Isabelle had gone back to their hotel, but Sebastian had said that he wanted to stay out later. He and Jace had gone out and got a couple of beers, and then gone back to Jace's apartment. They sat on the couch in the lounge, and Jace pulled out a bottle of bourbon from his fridge and poured it into chipped mugs. He wasn't even sure who initiated the kiss, only that they were slowly shuffling closer as they poured more drinks until their thighs were pressed together and Sebastian's hand had shifted off the back of the couch to touch Jace's shoulders.

They were both clearly inexperienced—or at least, inexperienced when it came to men. The first time that their mouths had come together, it had been a weird fumble, way too dry and Sebastian hadn't shaved in a day or so, and the stubble was rubbing against Jace's skin, and that was strange. They had pulled apart and let out awkward laughs, Jace rubbing the back of his head and Sebastian scrubbing a hand over his face.

But the second time was better.

And the third time had Sebastian moaning, and the throaty, timbre of Sebastian's moan had made Jace hard in his pants, harder than he had been in a long time. Sebastian had put his hands on either side of Jace's face and pulled him in close until they were laying out on the couch, Jace stretched over Sebastian.

It was weird and different—but not in a bad way—how he could feel Sebastian's hard cock through his own shorts. Sebastian's hands were tentative, putting his hands on Jace's back, not holding too tight, maybe the way he would usually touch a woman, wanting to be careful and not bruise him. It made Jace feel better in the way that at least he wasn't the only one knew to this, but he wanted more.

"I'm not gonna break, man," Jace growled as he pulled back, only far enough that the tips of their noses were touching. He thrust his hips forward in a brave move, and was rewarded when Sebastian's eyes squeezed shut, and he felt Sebastian's blunt fingernails dig into his back. "Come _on_ ," he urged, leaning back down to kiss Sebastian's mouth. The shorter haired man moved his hands, down to Jace's ass, underneath the band of his jeans and his briefs, and he gripped him hard.

Jace hadn't come in his pants since he was fifteen, but he put it down to the fact that this was a brand new experience.

It also made him feel better that Sebastian did the same thing, biting down on his bottom lip so hard that it bled, and then letting out a laugh as he looked up at Jace. Jace had been worried that it would get weird, but it didn't. They had showered together, not doing anything else except bump against one another a couple of times. Afterwards, they went to Jace's room, Sebastian putting on a pair of Jace's sweatpants and looking damn good in them. They curled up in Jace's bed together, watching old movies on his crappy laptop, and Sebastian put his hand on Jace's hip; heavy, warm and comforting.

Sebastian had stayed the week, and other than a couple of hasty, goodbye kisses that had raised eyebrows from Isabelle and Alec, but they didn't say anything. Sebastian came by everyday after Jace finished work, and they went out for dinner, the Lightwood siblings would join them for a few hours, but then Sebastian would come back with Jace every night, and they would curl up together and watch TV. Celine was on one of her benders, and for the first time, Jace hadn't minded, because it meant that they were left in peace.

Jace had actually felt as though something inside was being stamped on when Sebastian left, and he had gone on a two day bender.

A guy that he had known for a _week_ made him do that.

And he wasn't even sure that he was going to see him again.

After Sebastian had left, he tried to forget him—he had given Jace his cell phone number before he had left, but Jace knew that it wasn't something that he could make work. They lived hours apart and Jace barely ever got time off, trying to cover the bills for his mother and himself.

So he tried to substitute Sebastian for a while, going to bars and checking out girls and guys, but it wasn't the same. There were a couple of guys that he made out with in dark corners, and there was even one sloppy hand job in the bathroom of a club, but it wasn't anything special. It definitely wasn't Sebastian.

The second time, was when he was twenty, it was about eight months later. Jace had been nervous at first, but Sebastian had given him a look while they were sitting in the lounge of the hotel room that Isabelle and Alec had rented. It was a charged gaze that had Jace excusing him from the room to calm himself down in the bathroom. When Sebastian had said that he was leaving with Jace as it got closer to eleven, Alec and Isabelle had exchanged looks with each other but hadn't said anything. It wasn't something that Jace wanted to talk about, so he ignored the looks, and the pair of them had left together.

Sebastian had seemed a bit more confident this time, pushing Jace up against the wall as they kissed, and rubbing him firmly through his jeans as soon as they got into Jace's apartment. Celine was passed out on the couch, and so they quickly made their way down to Jace's room. Sebastian had licked his lips, looking around the room before settling on a pack of condoms that was half under the bed.

"Have you got lube?" He asked and Jace's cock jerked in his shorts as he realized that something a little bit more was going to happen than just making out. Jace reached underneath the bed and found a bottle of lube that was almost empty. Sebastian's took it, settling back on the duvet and reaching out to grip Jace's thigh. "I want to do this," he said bluntly. "But if you don't want to, I'm good with just watching some shitty movie and going to sleep." The blatant honesty in his face had Jace lurching forward, ripping down his shorts, and then Sebastian's. They both poured lube onto their hands and shakily leaned forward to grip one another.

It felt strange to have someone elses cock in his hand, the weight and softness so familiar to his own yet completely different. But he adjusted quickly, and when Sebastian started jacking Jace's own cock, it was easy to just relax into it.

Jace groaned, thrusting his hips upward to meet Sebastian's hand. He tried to keep his own pace steady, wanting to make Sebastian feel as good as he did. Sebastian was grunting, bracing himself over Jace, and a moment later, he was coming, spattering over Jace's chest. Jace felt a split second of feeling proud that _he_ did that, and then he was coming as well, making a mess over Sebastian's fist and dripping down his stomach and inner thighs.

Sebastian stayed suspended over Jace for a few minutes, waiting until the initial euphoria of the orgasm wore off. He leaned down to kiss Jace, and Jace responded, wrapping an arm around Sebastian and pulling him in close, not caring that they were getting come all over themselves.

The next morning, Jace initiated the contact.

Sebastian was fast asleep, and Jace swallowed hard as he rolled over, pushing the blanket away so that he could crouch between. He pulled back the briefs that Sebastian was wearing—he had come prepared, bringing his own change of clothes—and started sucking on his cock, which was already half hard from his morning erection.

It was a bit sloppy, and Jace couldn't get his mouth all the way down—he definitely had to give props to all the girls he had been with over the years who made it look easy. Sebastian woke up after the first minute or so and he reached down and pulled Jace's hair and if that wasn't the biggest turn on that he had ever experienced, he would be lying straight through his teeth.

That day Sebastian took him out on what could only be described as a date.

There was a movie, and then there was lunch, and then they went down to the pier and Sebastian brought them both ice cream sundaes. It wasn't like they held hands and bumped hips as though they were an actual couple, but that night, Sebastian had dragged him to a fancy hotel room, just for themselves, and they spent the whole next day and night ordering room service and smoking on the balcony and taking advantage of the massive spa bath.

They didn't have sex, but they definitely experimented more with their mouths and hands, and it wasn't just his body that Jace gave over to Sebastian. He opened up about his mother, about the loneliness he felt, and Sebastian once again gave him his number, this time directly putting it into Jace's phone.

The third time was over a year later, when they were twenty-one—two years ago. By then, Jace had been with someone else, another guy who looked nothing like Sebastian. Tall, with black hair and green eyes. Gorgeous in his own right, and he felt a bit more confident with his sexuality, although he couldn't actually bring himself to have sex with someone who wasn't Sebastian.

Despite having Sebastian's number, once again, Jace knew that there was so much keeping them apart. Even with his cousins, he kept his contact to a minimum, it was too difficult to have a connection that he couldn't keep up with.

So when they met again after over a year, Jace hadn't been sure what to expect, but they managed to fumble through it, as though they had never been apart. The first night they had spent with Alec and Isabelle, and then the pair of them had crashed out on the spare bed in the Lightwoods hotel room, curling around each other. Jace had woken to Sebastian spooning him, his face buried in his neck.

There had been an awkward conversation at first, on the third day, when they decided they were actually going to have sex, and then they had to talk about who was going to be on top. Sebastian sounded as though maybe he knew what he was doing, like maybe there had been someone else, and that made jealousy flare in his stomach, irrationally. But then

He used too much lube, and his hands were shaking so much that he couldn't put the condom on—he was like a virgin. Sebastian had sat up from where he had been laying on the bed, and he had put his hands on either side of Jace's face. He had kissed him, so softly and so sweetly, that Jace felt himself relax. Sebastian had taken the condom from him and rolled it on, and then Jace finally pushed inside the blonde.

Jace panted, only able to think _tight, hot—so fucking tight_ —Sebastian looked gorgeous, head thrown back, face flushed and lips red. He pulled back so that he could watch where he was entering Sebastian, holding Sebastian's hips, snapping forward faster and faster. Sebastian's cock was red and leaking, and Jace wrapped his hand around his lover, starting to tug. Jace wasn't able to last long, but he kept twisting his hand until Sebastian was coming as well.

* * *

"Yo," Sebastian waved his hand in front of Jace's face, and Jace blinked. "We've been here for, like, five minutes now, and you've just been staring ahead. You alright?"

"Yeah, yeah," Jace shook his head and let out a short laugh. "Yeah, totally ready to kick your ass at paintball." Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"We'll see about that."


	8. Chapter 8

Spending the day alone with Sebastian had been amazing, although there had been this worry in Jace's chest about what was going to happen when they got home. Clary was back, and so it wasn't just going to be the two of them again. He had enjoyed their nights together, watching TV and drinking beer and eating pizza or Chinese. Sebastian would laugh at the stupid jokes on whatever show they were watching, and Jace would make sarcastic comments, and it just felt so comfortable. But now Clary was here, and he knew it was wrong because, really, it was Jace that was intruding, but it felt like Clary was stepping in on their time together.

But Clary still wasn't home by the time they went to sleep, and the only thing that went differently was that they made sure they threw away the pizza boxes before they went to bed, and they washed the plates that they had used. Jace still felt a little bit nervous as he went to his room that night—he was also aching a bit, from the physical exertion of running through the paint balling course he and Sebastian had gone to, and the hits he had taken from Sebastian's paint balls had slammed into his body through the body armor.

He managed to go to sleep, and wasn't woken when, or if, Clary came home.

Just like the day before, Jace felt awkward the next morning, and he spent way too much time laying in bed and staring at the ceiling before finally dragging himself out of bed and getting dressed. He dumped all his clothes into the washing basket that was in the corner of the room, and took in a deep breath before walking out into the hallway. He couldn't help but look toward the end bedroom, which was now wide open and the bed was made. Sebastian never made the bed, whenever Jace walked down the hallway and glanced toward the room during the week, the duvets were always a mess and the pillows askew. He made his bed every morning, force of habit because he liked a tidy living space, and more than once he had been tempted to go in and make the bed, but had managed to stop himself.

"Washing machine is just through there," Sebastian greeted Jace from the couch, where he looked freshly showered. He pointed toward the kitchen and Jace nodded as he walked through the lounge, the washing basket in his hand. There was a small washing room just off the kitchen, with a washer and a dryer. Jace threw his stuff inside and found the washing liquid on the small shelf on the opposite side of the small room, and he tipped a little bit in before starting the washing machine. When he turned around, Sebastian was standing in the kitchen, and he gave Jace a lazy smile. "Have breakfast, and then we're going down to the beach."

"The beach?" Jace raised an eyebrow, wondering just how long he had slept in. He hadn't checked his phone before he had gotten out of bed, although when he looked out the kitchen windows over the sink, it did look like the sun was pretty high in the sky.

"Yeah, everyone else is already down there," Sebastian answered. "I was waiting for you, because you won't know what part of the beach we go to, and I didn't want to give awkward ass instructions over the phone." Jace liked that, Sebastian waiting for him. "Me and Clary had breakfast, and I went for a run after she left, had a shower, and you were _still_ in bed. Must have had a really good sleep."

"Something like that," Jace shrugged, not wanting to answer that he hadn't been sleeping for probably the past three hours. "So, uh, who do you mean by everyone?" Sebastian gave him a quizzical look. "You said everyone is already down at the beach," he clarified as he opened up the cupboard and pulled out a loaf of bread.

"Oh right," Sebastian nodded. "Simon, Alec, Magnus, Izzy, Max and Jon. And, of course, Clary. I think that Maia and Jordan are going to be there, but Jem won't be, he's off visiting Tess."

"Sounds good," Jace replied, because in the most part, it did. Except for the fact that Clary was going to be there, and at this point, Jace knew that it was just stupid, pretending to himself that he didn't have feelings for Sebastian. He blatantly did, and he knew the smart thing to do would be to save up and find his own place as soon as possible, but it had only been a week, and he didn't _want_ to leave Sebastian—he had only just gotten him back, and he wasn't ready to put space between them again.

After finishing off a couple of pieces of toast, both men went to their separate rooms to get changed into a pair of swimming shorts and a shirt. Jace put on a hoodie over the sleeveless shirt that he had thrown on, given he was assuming that they were going to taking their bikes and the wind would be painful on his bare arms. When he came out of his room to brush his teeth, he noted that Sebastian had done the same thing, so he was guessing he was right in assuming they were taking their motorbikes. As he shoved his wallet and phone into his pocket, he realized that it was almost eleven o'clock. Clary's car was gone from the garage, and the boys got on their bikes, putting on their helmets, and Sebastian drove out first, Jace close behind him.

They drove through the residential area and through part of the city, before starting toward the beach. It looked as though they were heading toward the same sort of area where they had had dinner with the boys from work. When they parked up, Jace realized that they were i the same part of the beach, but Sebastian was right, he wouldn't have remembered how to get there on his own. There were a lot of people there, the parking lot was full, but Sebastian and Jace were lucky on their bikes, and they managed to get their cars parked pretty close to the walkway that lead to the beach. Sebastian hadn't bothered to bring any towels or food, so Jace had followed suit and assumed that the others who they were meeting at the beach had the things they needed.

"Come on, let's go!" Sebastian urged, bouncing on the balls of his feet, sandals slapping against the concrete that was spattered in sand. "I want you to meet Clary." Jace really hoped that the grimace wasn't obvious on his face, and he shoved his phone and keys in the back pocket of his shorts and kept his sunglasses firmly on his face, hoping that they would disguise his expression at least a little bit. The beach was flooded with people, kids with their parents, teenagers in groups, couples stretched out on towels next to each other. Sebastian seemed to know exactly where they were heading, though, and he lead his way through the people until Jace noticed Isabelle sitting on a towel, underneath a large beach umbrella, a flopped sunhat on her head.

"Jace! Seb!" Isabelle cried out, waving at them. "You finally made it!" She got up from where she was sitting, swiping the sand off her legs and arms as she gave them both a tight hug. "Clary told me you were sleeping in," she winked at Jace.

"Where's everyone else?" Sebastian asked as he turned to squint out at the ocean.

"Simon has taken Max for a swim, and Jon and Jordan have gone out into the deeper water," Isabelle replied. Jace looked out at the ocean and could see Simon with Max in the shallow water, where it only came up to Simon's shins but clearly the little waves that were trickling in were enough to have Max wobbling and clinging on tightly to his father's hands. "Alec and Magnus went to...I don't know, I think they went off to make out somewhere like teenagers, and Clary and Maia have gone to go and get Lydia, since she finished her shift. They'll be back soon." Jace looked in the same direction that Sebastian was looking in and saw the burger bar where they had gone the other night for dinner.

"So, Jace," Isabelle smiled widely and sat back down on the towel, patting the space next to her under the shade of the umbrella. "How are you enjoying LA so far? Are you liking working with Jon and the boys?" Jace stripped out of his shirt, already feeling himself beginning to overheat, and sat down next to Isabelle. He tried to keep his eyes to himself when Sebastian took off his own shirt and stretched him arms out above his head, but he couldn't help but see the man out of the corner of his eye. "Jace?" Isabelle prompted him, and there was a cheeky curve to her lips, as though she knew what was distracting him.

"Uh, yeah," he nodded quickly, turning his attention back to his cousin. "Yeah, it's good."

"Have you..." Isabelle drifted off, sounding uncertain, and Jace tipped his head to the side as he waited for her to continue. "Have you heard from your mum? Any calls or anything?" Jace pursed his lips together and was about to respond when he heard a shout that was clearly directed at them.

"Seb!" It was a female voice.

The same female voice that Jace had heard last Friday evening, although in a completely different context.

Isabelle lifted her eyes to look over Jace's head toward the direction of the voice, and Jace swallowed hard, and turned around slowly. Maia and Lydia were coming toward them, and there was a red head that he hadn't met yet, but had seen in a dozen photos. She was pretty; not in the over the top, in your face way that Lydia was with her big breasts and long, blonde hair, and not in the exotic beauty sort of way that Maia was, with her caramel skin and mess of curls around her face. But she was tanned, with a smattering of freckles over her nose and cheeks, and she had dark red hair, that looked as though it was trying to escape the braid she had pulled it into. She was wearing a black and grey plaid bikini, which showed off strong thighs, flat stomach and rounded chest, and a big smile on her face.

"Seb!" She repeated as she got closer, unlinking her arm from Maia's and bouncing over to Jace, throwing her arms around his waist and giving him a firm kiss on the mouth. Sebastian's arms went around her waist, and one of his hands slipped down to give her ass a quick squeeze, grinning as she laughed and swatted at his arm. It was so comfortable and easy, and it frankly made Jace want to bury his face in the sand.

"You boys finally decided to join us," Lydia teased as she reached them, wearing a white bikini that was barely covering anything. "How nice of you."

"Didn't you just get off work?" Sebastian rolled his eyes at her. "You only get here as well!"

"Not true!" Lydia protested. "I've technically been here for the past five hours. You missed me giving out free smoothies." Sebastian pouted and Lydia grinned, but she seemed to get distracted as she spotted Jon and Jordan coming out of the water, undoubtedly interested at coming back on land now that their girls were back.

"Oh, Clary!" Sebastian seemed to realize that there were introductions that needed to be made, and Jace forced himself to stand up. He attempted a smile, but from the way Maia lifted her eyebrows behind Clary, he was pretty sure it didn't come across as friendly. Sebastian didn't seem to notice though, looking between his friend and his girlfriend. "Jace, this is Clary, and Clary! You finally get to meet Jace!" The expression on Clary's face shifted. The smile didn't disappear, but it definitely faded, and there was a wariness in her eyes.

"Hey," Clary broke the silence before it go too awkward, thrusting her hand forward.

"Hi," Jace replied, his voice sounding abrupt even to his ears. He took her hand and shook it before letting his hand fall back quickly to his side. Sebastian seemed to realize that something was a little off and looked between the two of them. Clary covered it up well, though, and thankfully, she put a bit of space between her and Sebastian, so they weren't pressed together anymore.

"How are you enjoying the room? The only people who have ever really stayed in that bed are Jon and Lydia when they're too drunk to get home," the smile on her face turned genuine as she looked over at Lydia with a smirk. "Don't worry, we've changed the sheets since they last stayed in there." The implication was clear and Maia, Isabelle and Sebastian laughed while Lydia just shrugged, not looking at all bothered.

"Not my fault your brother's so hot," she winked.

"Ew," Clary crinkled up her nose and shook her head, her braid bouncing from side to side.

"Uh, the room is great," Jace answered, wondering if it would come off as rude if he just sat back down on the towel next to Isabelle, hopefully ending a conversation. But, thankfully, he didn't need to make that decision, because Jon and Jordan joined them, Simon and Max coming up close behind them as well, taking a little bit longer to reach them since Max wanted to stop and pick up handfuls of sand every couple of steps.

"Thank fuck you're finally here!" Jon announced. "I'm so hungry, but the girls wouldn't let us eat until you guys got here."

"Language," Isabelle hummed out at the older man as Simon and Max finally reached them. Max let out a squeal when he saw Isabelle, stumbling away from Simon and toward Isabelle. His hands were covered in wet sand, and when he fell forward onto his mother, he got clumps of sand all over the blue one piece that Isabelle was wearing, and the towels around her.

"So do we want to head up to _Taki's_ or do we want to go to the bakery?" Clary asked as she looked around the group of friends, her eyes skimming quickly over Jace.

"I vote burgers!" Jordan immediately said.

"You always vote burgers," Maia rolled her eyes.

"Because burgers are amazing," Jordan retorted.

"I literally just came from _Taki's_ and I want to go for a swim to get rid of that deep fried greasy smell that seems to follow me everywhere," Lydia put in.

"I'm down for a swim," Clary agreed, turning to Sebastian and touching his arm lightly. "Whatever you guys decide to get, grab me something?" He nodded, and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. Lydia and Clary started walking toward the beach, and Jace watched them go. Lydia said something to to Clary and the red head started laughing, and then they picked up their pace and were jogging toward the water.

"What would you prefer, Jace?" Sebastian asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm down for whatever," Jace shrugged, looking down at his feet which were sinking further into the sound.

"What a cop out!" Jon protested. "Come on, we need decisions here, people!"

"What do you want, baby?" Maia crooned, dropping to her knees and leaning forward to rub her nose against Max's. The little boy giggled and one of his hands gripped her curly hair, giving it a tug that was probably painful, but Maia didn't seem to mind. Max seemed so comfortable with all of them, and it was clear that he knew these people were family. "Do you want burgers? Or sausage rolls?"

"Burg-aas!" Max gurgled.

"Burgers it is," Jordan grinned.


	9. Chapter 9

A week went by.

Jace could literally count the amount of times that he had seen Clary on one hand—and that included their first meeting at the beach. He might need to use two hands to count the amount of times he had heard her, given some mornings as he was waking up, before he got out of bed, he heard her talking quietly to Sebastian, and she was singing in the shower one night he got home after work, but it was strange. For someone who owned a house with her boyfriend, she was never around. It wasn't like Jace was complaining about it, because he still wasn't one hundred percent certain how to act around her, but it wasn't what he had expected. And he was beginning to get worried that Clary was avoiding the house because he was there, which made him even more worried about Sebastian getting stuck in between them.

"So, uh," Jace reached forward to pick up a slice of pizza on Thursday night, from the box that was on the coffee table. "Clary's never here in the mornings..." he hadn't broached the subject of Sebastian's girlfriend with him, mainly because every passing day that he spent with Sebastian, he knew that he was just fooling himself if he was still thinking he wasn't falling for him again. But if he wanted to hold onto the actual friendship that he had managed to forge with Sebastian, then he was going to need to face the fact that he _had a girlfriend_. That he was unavaliable. And he was also going to have to make an effort to get along with said girlfriend. "Uh, does she start work really early or something?"

"She goes for runs in the morning," Sebastian shrugged, picking up a piece of pizza for himself, his eyes still glued to the TV. "Although, in all honesty, I'm pretty sure that half of the time she just stops at this cafe down the street that she loves getting coffee from," he grinned before he took a bite out of the pizza.

"It's just...She's also never around at night," Jace shifted in his spot on the couch, staring down at the pizza toppings on the slice in front of him. He wasn't sure what was going on in the show that they were watching because he had been psyching himself up to talking to Sebastian about Clary for the past half hour. "I mean, I'm guessing that she comes home at night, but it mustn't be until late because I'm generally in bed." Sebastian had picked up the remote and paused the show they were watching on Netflix and raised an eyebrow as he looked over at Jace, leaning back on the couch.

"She works a lot," Sebastian answered. "She had that conference in Boston for the past week, her and a couple of her colleagues, which meant that she got behind on some of her case load. She's catching up on all of that." There was something in the way that Sebastian was talking that made Jace feel a little uncomfortable. He paused for a moment, considering dropping the subject, but then he took in a deep breath and just asked exactly what he was thinking.

"Is she staying out of the house because of me?" Sebastian's eyebrows pulled together as he studied Jace.

"You're worried about this," he said quietly. His face was serious and Jace suddenly felt bad for asking the question, because he was upsetting Sebastian, who had done nothing but make him feel welcome and at home. But he needed to get this out in the open, because if he was the reason that Clary was staying out of the house, then sooner or later, it would come to a head, and Jace had only just gotten into this life where he actually had friends and people that he could rely on, and he wasn't ready to loose that. He didn't doubt for a second if there was a side to be taken, it wouldn't be his, because it never was.

"I just don't want Clary to feel as though she can't be around here because of me," Jace answered, and then shoved his pizza into his mouth to give him something else to worry about.

"Clary has no problem with you being here," Sebastian told Jace sincerely. "If you're worried that she's going to find out about what happened in New York, that's not something you need to be concerned about." Jace blinked and froze, stopping chewing the mouthful of pizza that he had bitten into. That was the first time that either of them had even mentioned New York, and the fact that they were more than friends once upon a time. But then he was also not sure how to take that comment—so Clary didn't know about what had happened between them? And Sebastian was planning on continuing to hide that from her? Was he ashamed of what happened between them. "Clary knows," Sebastian informed Jace, which took him by surprise. "Clary knows, and she has no problem with you being here. So don't worry about this, okay?"

"Yeah," Jace swallowed his mouthful and cleared his throat. "Yeah, okay." He nodded and attempted to smile at Sebastian, who didn't look totally convinced that Jace was okay. But Jace purposefully directed his attention toward the TV, pointedly not looking at Sebastian as he took another bite of his pizza. Sebastian shrugged and resumed the show on the TV.

It was the next night that Clary came home at a time when Jace was still out in the lounge. She looked tired, wearing a pencil skirt that showed off a surprisingly curvy ass for a petite woman, and a white blouse that was untucked, the first couple of buttons undone and showing a hint of cleavage.

"Hey," Clary shot him a tight smile before shifting her gaze to Sebastian. "Hey, baby," her voice was noticeably warmer this time, and she leaned down to press a kiss to his mouth.

"How was work?" Sebastian asked as she walked into the kitchen and dumped her bag. Jace could hear the clatter of her shoes as she kicked them off, and then it sounded as though she was opening up cupboard doors.

"It was good," Clary called back. "Long. What about you guys?" She came back into the lounge, carrying a glass filled with water, her eyes skimming over Jace and resting on Sebastian.

"Yeah, it was good, glad it's Friday," Sebastian grinned at her. Jace wasn't going to reply, he assumed that the question had just come out as inclusive so that Clary didn't sound rude, but then both her and Sebastian looked at Jace and he realized that he was expected to answer.

"Uh, yeah," he shifted around where he was sitting. "It was good." Sebastian smiled at him, but Clary seemed to have lost interest and turned her gaze toward the TV. They were watching an old show that they had found while clicking through Netflix, _Line of Duty_ , before she looked back at Sebastian.

"I'm going to go have a shower and then I'm going to bed," she stated. "Living up the high life on a Friday night," she cracked another smile, her eyes sliding to Jace for a split second before looking back at her boyfriend, not paying much attention to the golden haired boy. "Make sure you clean up your mess," she waved her hand at the cardboard containers that had the Chinese in them that they had ordered for dinner. "I don't want it stinking up in here when I come out in the morning."

"Sure thing, babe," Sebastian smiled, straightening up and puckering his lips at her. Clary smiled at him, reaching forward to give him a quick kiss before leaving the room, going down the hallway toward their room. They could faintly hear the shower turn on, over the sound of the TV. After a couple of minutes, Sebastian started to clean up the mess of their dinner on the table, Jace getting up to help. "I think I'm going to turn in early tonight," Sebastian said with a grin, and Jace looked up at the clock on the wall, which said that it was just after ten. It was late for Clary to be finishing work, but it was early for Sebastian to be going to bed. Jace was about to say something, but then he realized by the way that Sebastian was wiggling his eyebrows it definitely didn't mean that he was going to bed _to sleep_. "I'll see you in the morning, yeah?"

"Yeah, sure, uh—" Jace fumbled for what to say next, since he knew that Sebastian was going to go down the hallway and have sex with his beautiful girlfriend. "Have fun?" It sounded awkward and fake coming out of his mouth, but clearly Sebastian didn't hear it because he just grinned, tossing the remote at him before he went down the hallway. Jace sat stock still on the couch, staring at the TV, and he heard the bathroom door open, the sound of the shower getting louder. Jace held the remote in his hand, his thumb twitching toward the volume. The show that they were watching was interesting, but he knew that he wasn't going to be able to follow the story line now that Sebastian and Clary were having sex just down the hall.

He bit down on his lower lip and took in a deep breath, turning the volume of the TV up. He tried to focus on the TV, on what was happening in the show, but he couldn't pay attention. He swallowed hard, tightening his grip around the remote as he wondered what he was meant to do. If he went to his bedroom, then they would literally be right across the hallway from him, in the bathroom, if that's where Sebastian had followed her, or even worse, right on the other side of the wall, if they went to their bedroom. If he stayed out here, he was just going to shift around, feeling more and more uncomfortable.

Down the hall, there was a bump and a thud, and then over the sound of the TV there was a sound of a woman laughing.

Jace chewed down on his lip and breathed out shakily. He dropped the remote down on the couch and reached for his phone instead, sending off a quick text. He got a response within just a few minutes, and then he got off the couch, turning off the TV. There was silence from down the hall, except for the sound of the shower running, but when he reached the front door and was trying to get his shoes on, he heard another thud and more laughing, this time from Sebastian.

He didn't even bother to tie up his shoes before he was opening the front door and falling through in his haste to get away from the noise.

Before getting on his bike, Jace had to taken in a couple deep breaths to will away the fact he was half hard, thinking about the couple inside the house.

* * *

Stacey, the waitress from the cafe that he had gotten together with previously, was more than happy to let him crash at her place again. She was all flirty smiles and hushed tones, and she climbed him almost as soon as he walked through the door. She had been out with a couple of friends when he had text her, but she had caught a cab back as soon as she had responded, and was there to greet him with open legs when he arrived. Jace tried to be enthusiastic, but he was glad that she was tired from her week at work and a little bit drunk, so she didn't pick up on the fact that he was distracted.

The next morning, he went back to the house early, leaving Stacey while she was still sleeping. He tried to be quiet as he walked down the hallway to his room, wincing as the floor squeaked underneath his feet. He hadn't quite thought through what he was going to do for the day, but when glanced toward the room at the end of the room, with the door only partially shut so that he caught a glimpse of Clary's bare back, the blankets covering her from the waist up, he knew that he had to get out of the house.

Neither Magnus or Alec looked particularly surprised when he showed up, especially Alec. They didn't ask him any questions or pry into what he was doing there, which he was grateful for. Sometime in the afternoon, Sebastian text and asked him if he was okay, and Jace hesitated before replying, settling for saying that he was spending time with his cousins and giving Sebastian some space to spend with his girlfriend. Sebastian had replied just a couple of minutes later, telling him to have a good evening and he would see him when he came back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed the update :)


	10. Chapter 10

She was avoiding him.

She was _definitely_ avoiding him.

It was now almost the end of Clary's second week back home, and Jace had only seen her twice more since he had come back from Alec and Magnus' on Sunday evening. Sebastian wasn't saying anything, acting as though it was normal for Clary not to be home. Jace could understand that he just didn't want to get stuck between them. He had thought about asking again, but it really wasn't any of his business, and Sebastian had looked so torn the first time Jace had brought it up. If Clary had a problem with him, then that was on her. She could be a big girl and talk to him about it, or she could wait until he found somewhere else to move out. Hopefully that wouldn't be too far away, it was amazing how much money he was able to save without having to pay rent for a dingy apartment in the middle of New York.

Friday morning, Jace was running late for work. He had overslept, which was unusual, but he had been at Isabelle and Simon's last night and hadn't gotten home until after one. It was amazing being so close to his cousins, just being able to go to their house after work, and Max was starting to recognize him, which was awesome. Usually Sebastian would wake him up if he slept through his alarm, but there was a text message on his phone to say that Sebastian had heard him come in late last night and that he thought he could do with a sleep in. Jace cringed and didn't even think twice about throwing open his door and quickly crossing to the bathroom and throwing that door open as well. He had been so used to only accommodating for Sebastian in the morning, and since he wasn't there, Jace didn't even consider that someone might be in the bathroom.

"Shit!" Came a squeal and Jace stopped short as he realized that Clary had been drying herself after a shower. He was frozen in his spot as she quickly wrapped the towel around her body, getting a glimpse of her pert tits and flat stomach. Her cheeks were dewy from the shower and her red hair was sticking to her face.

"Fuck," Jace shook his head and looked away, but for some reason he couldn't move his feet. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, it's alright," she said, not sounding too upset. "Just, uh, you getting ready for work?"

"Yup," Jace was still looking away from her.

"Did you...Want to move out of the way so that I can leave you here to do your thing?" Clary continued, and Jace couldn't help but look back at her, and she had a small smile on her face, looking as though she was trying to stop herself from laughing. Jace nodded soundlessly, taking a few steps backwards so that he was out of the bathroom, and Clary walked out behind him. She didn't give him another look as she turned and carried on to her bedroom, and Jace tried to ignore the way the towel was hitched up tight around her ass, so that he could see the outline of it through the material.

Jace shook his head, grabbing a towel out of the cupboard and then closing himself in the shower. The tiles and shower walls were still wet from when Clary had been in, and he sighed as he stepped into the stream of water. There was no denying that the redhead was attractive, and if he was pathetically head over heels for her _boyfriend_ then he would be more than happy to admit that he would give her a second glance when she came into the room.

He was an hour late for work, but Jon just shrugged, not looking bothered by him showing up later than he should. Jace had always been on time, pretty much the opposite of Jem who traipsed in late almost everyday, apparently because he had fallen asleep while talking with his girlfriend. But the kid was a good worker, and that seemed to be all Jon expected from all of them. Halfway through the day, Sebastian and Alec left in Alec's car, and then when they came back, Alec was alone in his car, and Sebastian was driving Clary's.

Even though Jon hadn't told him to stay later, Jace did anyway. It didn't really feel like he was doing anything extra because Sebastian was staying in later as well, working on Clary's car afterwards. It was nearly six thirty when Jace was washing his hands and getting ready to leave when Sebastian swore under his breath and checked his phone.

"Shit," he scratched his fingers over his scalp and then looked over at Jace. "Uh," he licked his lips, as though he was nervous about what he was going to ask. "Are you planning on going home?"

"I was—is something wrong?" Jace asked as he dried off his hands.

"I was wondering if you could go and get Clary from her work? I thought I would be finished with her car sooner, but I got started on it later than I had planned," Sebastian winced. Jace looked over at the Porsche that Sebastian had been underneath even after their clocking out time had passed, and realized that he had only actually been working on Clary's car for the past half hour or so.

"Uh," Jace wanted to say no. He didn't want to go and pick Clary up because that would mean on his bike, and then she would have to ride behind him, and given the girl didn't even seem to want to be in the same house as him, she probably wouldn't want to get on his bike. But even so, she was doing him a favor with letting him stay in their house rent free. "Yeah. Sure. Where do I go?"

Jace still didn't properly know his way around Los Angeles and he had to pull over twice to look at the GPS on his phone as he was trying to find Clary's work. It was just after seven when he finally found the building, which looked as though it was all closed up. Sebastian had given Jace her phone number and told him to go around the back of building in a car park and send her a message, and she would come out and meet him. It was early evening, and the sun was beginning to set, but it wasn't completely dark yet. He stared down at his phone for a couple of seconds before deciding to send off a quick message.

_In the car park._

Sebastian told Jace that he would call Clary and tell her that Jace would be picking her up instead, so she would be expecting him. Sebastian also said that she would be ready pretty much as soon as he got there, since she was just doing some over time work and pretty much everyone else would be gone from the office.

The car park around the back of the building was probably quite a nice place throughout the day—it had a hip height concrete wall around the outskirt of the car park, and then was a groomed hedge that went a metre or so above it. There was an alleyway to one side, that came through one of the gaps in the concrete wall, and then there was the driveway that he had come down, which was quite narrow, between two tall buildings. But it wasn't day time now, it was getting darker, and given how the parking lot was hidden between two buildings and the shadows from the hedges were stretching on, it actually looked like it could be quite dangerous once the sun had fully set.

 _I'll be right out_ , came Clary's response a minutes later and he nodded, tucking his phone back into his pocket. He turned the engine of the bike off, holding onto the spare helmet that Sebastian had handed him before he left. There were a couple of people—they looked like men—in the side alley, kicking at some of the rubbish and swearing as they spoke. They had on hoodies, pulled up over their heads, and Jace rolled his eyes as he looked away. They looked like the kind of kids who were just going to cause trouble.

Jace pushed his feet against the ground, turning his bike around so that he was closer to the driveway, wondering how far away Clary was, and if he should ride his bike around to the front of the building. He decided against it, staying where he was, since he didn't know which door she was coming out of. He was about to text her again when he heard a shout from the alley, and he frowned as he glanced in the direction. He could only see one of the guys now, and he looked like he was shouting at one of his friends. Jace ignored it, but then there was another shout, and then another, this time from a female.

There was something familiar about the voice of the female, and when he heard it again, this time sounding more anxious even though he couldn't fully make out the words, he kicked out the stand of his bike and started running toward the alley.

"Fuck _off_!" Came a growl, and then there was a noise that sounded like skin slapping against skin. Jace rounded the corner just to see one of the three men recoil back, holding his face, and petite Clary, holding onto her bag with one hand, her other one outstretched. He surmised that she must have slapped one of the men.

"You little bitch," another one hissed out and lunged at her. He caught her shoulder, jerking her backwards, and Clary nearly fell over.

"Hey!" Jace shouted as he advanced on them, picking up the pace even more.

"Fuck off," one of the guys grumbled at him while the other who had grabbed Clary's shoulder, was trying to get the bag off her. Clary was still struggling with him, barely paying any attention to Jace, but the two other men turned to face Jace. Jace had been in enough fights in his years of living in the bad part of New York to know that these two probably wouldn't be too much of a challenge. They were younger than him, and not particularly solidly built. They had gone after Clary because they out numbered her, were probably just after her bag, not to actually hurt her, but she had then lashed out at them, refusing to give up her bag.

"Oi, leave her alone," Jace began, preferring not to get into a fist fight. The two facing him just snorted, exchanging looks before one of them stepped forward. He punched, aiming at Jace's chest, which Jace easily dodged, jerking up his elbow and jabbing it in the guys nose. The man let out a grunt and blood gushed from his nose. Jace didn't wait for him to recover before kicking out with his foot, at his knee, making his legs buckle and stumble backwards. The other guy was a big taller and seemed a bit smarter about his movements, keeping at arms length until Jace got distracted by Clary, who was still struggling to get her bag back. He then punched with both hands, and this time Jace got clipped on the side of the face.

It still didn't take long for him to get the upper hand, but not before he got caught in the mouth and on his cheek again. The three men scrammed, leaving Clary huddled against the wall, and Jace glaring after them, breathing heavily and holding one of his hands to his face. Clary seemed to regain her composure first, hurrying over to where Jace was and reaching out and resting both her hands softly on both sides of his face as though she hadn't been actively avoiding him since they had been introduced.

"Shit," she murmured, green eyes worried. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Jace assured her with a roll of his eyes. "I've dealt with a lot worse than those punks." Clary pursed her lips together and nodded.

"There's security cameras in this alley and the car park," she said. "I'll call my boss first thing tomorrow and have them send them onto the cops." She licked her lower lip nervously, and despite how much his cheek was throbbing and his lip was stinging, he couldn't help but follow the motion. "Let's get you home," she said, straightening up and looping one arm through Jace's—for her comfort, or his own, she wasn't sure—and nodded back in the direction that he had come. The pair of them walked back to his bike, Clary still holding on tight to his arm as they walked back. "You alright to drive? I can always do it." Jace didn't doubt for a second that she could handle his bike, given she had probably driven Sebastian's multiple times, but he shook his head.

"It's just a couple of bumps," Jace assured her, feeling a little awkward at her concerned attentions. "I'll be fine." Jace had dropped the helmets on the ground when he had run to the alley, and he picked them up, practically shoving one into her hands and then pulling the other over his head. The pressure of the helmet against his cheek stung a bit, but he ignored it as he got on the bike and waited for Clary to get on. She hitched up her skirt so that it was practically a belt and shoved her bag between them, tucking it between her stomach and his back as she put her hands on his waist. She got a proper grip and Jace turned on the engine, kicking off the ground and speeding out of the car park.

It took less time to get home than it did for Jace to get there, and after shifting impatiently from foot to foot while Clary unlocked the front door, he went quickly to the bathroom.

"Shit," he muttered under his breath as he looked at his reflection. The cut on his cheek wasn't too deep, although it was still bleeding, and a little smudged, so he was probably going to have to clean the inside of his motorbike helmet. The split on his lip was deeper, and he tentatively touched the inside of his gum with his tongue, instantly regretting the pressure.

"Don't do that," Clary piped up from the doorway, and Jace jerked in surprise, not realizing that she had been standing there. "Move," she told him, coming into the bathroom, and opening up the cupboards under the sink, kneeling down and pulling out a couple of things. "Sit," she pointed to the vanity unit.

"I'm fine," Jace began when he realized that she was holding disinfectant in her hand and a couple of wipes.

"Yes, you will be," Clary nodded, but didn't show any sign of backing down. Jace sighed, deciding he might as well go along with the redhead. Clary nodded again, pleased with him following her instructions. She flicked on the light and then came to stand back in front of him. She nudged his knees apart without even seeming to think about it, standing between his thighs and looking intently at the lower half of his face. Jace tried not to focus on the fact that she was practically pressed right up against him, and that her mouth was only a couple of inches away from his.

"Ouch!" His hissed as Clary wiped gently at the cut on his cheek.

"Yeah, yeah, hold still," Clary muttered as she cleaned away the blood on his cheek and then dabbed some disinfectant against his cheek.

"Fuck!" Jace hissed again, jerking back from her touch. Clary shook her head, a small smile on her mouth as she waited for him to relax forward, so that his face was close to hers again. She set back to work, finishing off with the cut on his cheek and then moving to his mouth. When he attempted to pull away again, letting out a yelp at the first touch of disinfectant to the open wound, Clary put her free hand around the back of his neck, bracing him.

"Stay," she told him, her fingers splaying out on the back of his neck, smooth but firm. "Not too much longer." Jace blinked, surprised at the way she was touching him, as though they were friends—as though they were familiar with each other. The way that she was tending to his wounds, carefully and efficiently, it sort of felt as though she actually cared. "Jon used to get into fights all the time when we were at school, and I would have to clean him up before our parents saw," she quirked a smile, although it look a bit nervous, as she finished cleaning the cut on his lip. She tossed the blood stained wipes toward the bin in the corner of the room, and then squeezed some more disinfectant cream on her finger. She smoothed it over the cut, and Jace winced, but didn't try to pull away, given the grip on the back of his neck. Her finger swiped gently over his lower lip, smoothing the cream into the cut. It stopped stinging after a moment, and Jace let out a heavy sigh. "Feel better?" Clary asked, her voice a lot quieter than it had been just a minute before.

"Y-yeah," Jace nodded his head, and she let her hands fall back to her side. She stepped back, the warmth from her body where it had been pressed against his legs and close to his chest.

"Go and get some ice," she said. "And...thank you."

"It's no problem," Jace replied. Clary wasn't smiling anymore, her face almost expressionless, like it had been every other time that he had seen her, but there was a softer tone to her eyes. She nodded, taking in a deep breath before turning on her heel and leaving the bathroom, Jace still sitting on the vanity unit, his face faintly throbbing.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter!

Jace was the first one up the next morning, and he went straight to the bathroom to look at the damage done to his face. He cringed as he saw a bruise forming on his cheek, and his mouth was a bit puffy, but it was far from the worst he had looked after a fist fight. He had gone and retrieved some frozen peas from the fridge last night and rested them against his face, which had helped a lot with the swelling today. He got changed in his room and then headed out to the lounge.

"Holy shit," Sebastian went wide-eyed as Jace walked into the room. "What the fuck happened to your face?"

"You, uh, haven't talked to Clary since last night?" Jace raised an eyebrow. Sebastian looked even more taken aback and Jace realized how that sounded. "Wait, no," he shook his head and waved his hands out in front of her. "She didn't do this, but...Last night, when I was picking her up, some guys jumped her in the alley."

"Shit," Sebastian's eyebrows furrowed as he came over to where Jace was, standing a little bit closer than normal so that Jace could smell the coffee on his breath as he inspected the injuries on his face. "Fuck, that carpark at her work," he shook his head, an angry expression on his face. "That's why I hate it when she's working overtime by herself—even with the surveillence camera's up there, it's not going to stop something bad from actually _happening_ you know, it just _might_ help after." Sebastian shook his head, lifting up one hand as though he was going to brush his fingers against Jace's skin. At the last minute he seemed to rethink it, and his hand dropped back to his side, taking a step back. "Thank you, for getting her out safe."

"Hey, it's nothing," Jace tried to brush it off, side stepping around Sebastian and walking toward the front door, but the other man reached out and grabbed his wrist, stopping him from walking too far.

"No, really, Jace," Sebastian told him sincerely. "I didn't get home until late last night, so Clare was asleep when I came in, but I could see her face when I got out of bed this morning, and she looked completely fine, no bruises or anything. _Thank you_." Jace cracked a smile, feeling awkward, and Sebastian seemed to pick up on that, letting it go. Jace walked out onto the deck and lit up a cigarette, sticking it in the corner of his mouth and taking in a deep drag as Sebastian walked back into the kitchen. It was unusual for Sebastian to be up this early in the weekend, Jace had only been staying with him a few weeks and he knew that Sebastian wasn't a morning person and would take in any sleep in he could. And it smelt good as well, as though he had been cooking. When Jace finished his cigarette, he stubbed it out in the ash tray that had appeared a few days after Clary had come home and went back into the house.

"What's all of this?" Jace asked as he leaned against the doorway into the kitchen.

"It's Clary's birthday today," Sebastian said with a smile. "She's turning twenty-four."

"Oh shit," Jace's eyes widened. "Uh, I didn't realize. If you'd told me I would have gone to Magnus and Alec's or something, given you guys some space."

"What?" Sebastian frowned. "No, no, if we wanted you to give us some space we would have told you, don't worry. It's totally cool, we don't usually do too much for birthdays, but her car needed some things to be looked after as well, so I thought I'd put some new speakers in and a new stereo, which is why I needed you to pick her up last night. And I'm making her breakfast, coz I'm a good bastard like that," he grinned and winked at Jace, and Jace smiled back weakly.

"Shit, something smell's good," came a tired voice from behind both of them, and they turned around to see Clary standing in the lounge, rubbing at her eyes with her fists. Jace looked away quickly, pretty sure Sebastian wouldn't appreciate staring at his girlfriend, who was only in a tiny pair of shorts and a shirt that was practically see through.

"Happy birthday, baby," Sebastian told Clary with a smile, walking past Jace and giving her a kiss on the mouth. "Made you breakfast."

"Oh, are you serious?" Clary smiled widely. "Thanks, babe," she reached up on her tip-toes and pressed a quick kiss to Sebastian's mouth. She turned her head to look at Jace and winced when she saw her face. "Shit, Jace," she moved to stand directly in front of him, and he really had no choice but to look at her. The shirt she was wearing was oversized, probably one of Sebastian's, and the collar hung low, and if he glanced down, he didn't doubt for a second that he would be able to see her breasts. "Your face looks even worse than it did last night."

"Well, thanks for that," Jace said wryly, and Clary rolled her eyes, lifting her hand to touch his cheek, her fingers cool against the bruises. He winced and she clicked her tongue sympathetically.

"Did you find some ice to put on them last night?" She asked.

"Yeah, I just used some frozen peas," he replied.

"Okay. If they start hurting again and you want one of those gel ice packs or something, just let me know and I'll run down to the store, alright?" She continued and Jace blinked down at her, the tiny red head with big expressive green eyes, and could only nod. He couldn't quite follow her, she seemed to be ignoring him completely, not wanting to be around him at all, and now she seemed to genuinely care about him. "And I already rang my boss, I rang him before I came out here. He's going to pass the security tapes onto the cops, but in all honesty, they were wearing hoodies, and they were probably just some teenagers who don't have records yet."

"I wouldn't really expect them to catch them," Jace answered with a one shouldered shrug. "I didn't even get a good look at their faces, so I wouldn't be able to positively ID them if the cops asked me too." Clary sighed and twisted her lips, and Sebastian put his arm around her.

"I'm just glad Jace was there," Sebastian said, giving her a quick squeeze. "Seriously, you need to talk to your boss about more security in that car park, especially with the longer hours you've been pulling lately, and sometimes you've been getting back after it's dark." He thought for a moment and then shook his head. "I don't want you doing anymore overtime if you're the only one, okay? If there's a couple of you, alright, that's cool, but I don't want you walking out there by yourself."

"Seb," Clary began with a sigh, taking in a deep breath through her nose.

"I'm serious, Clary," Sebastian had an expression on his face that clearly said he wasn't going to budge. "I just need to know you're safe. If something like this happens again and you're there by yourself," he set his jaw and Jace could see the pain in his eyes. "I don't know what I would do, and Jon and your parents would fucking murder me." Clary sighed, her shoulders lifting before she turned to face Sebastian and reached up, putting her hands on either side of his face and nodding her head once.

"Okay, hun. No more overtime," she assured him quietly. Sebastian stared at her for a few moments longer, as though to confirm that she was being open and honest. Jace felt as though he was intruding on a private moment, and he looked to the side, giving them at least the illusion of privacy. Clary reached up and gave him a quick kiss on the mouth and then stepped away from her boyfriend. "Alright! No more of this serious talk!" She wiggled her eyebrows in an adorable way. "What did you make me for my birthday?" Sebastian didn't look as though he was entirely happy, but he glanced over at Jace—seeming to realize for the first time since their conversation had started that they had an audience—and forced a smile.

"I made _all of us_ pancakes. Even went down to the farmers market—yes, the organic one that you like so much—and got fresh fruit," Sebastian said.

"Um," Jace's eyebrows pulled together but Clary reached out and snagged his wrist, as casually as if they had been touching each other all their lives.

"He said all of us, dumbass. Come on," she tugged on his arm, and then let go and skipped into the kitchen. Sebastian smiled at Jace, a more sincere one this time, and followed after Clary, leaving Jace to trail after them. It was a subconscious gesture, to rub his thumb against the inside of his wrist where Clary had just touched him, and he stopped as soon as he realized what he was doing.

The breakfast was absolutely incredible, even better than it smelt. The mountain of pancakes were fluffy and buttery, and they had all been kept warm in the oven while Sebastian had waited for them to get up. He had cut up strawberries and pineapple and had grapes and blueberries, and there was freshly squeezed orange juice. Jace still felt uncomfortable as they sat at the table outside, but Sebastian kept conversation up, involving both the other two at the table. Jace loosened up after a few minutes, and it was strange just how much he actually seemed to like Clary.

He had already admitted to himself that she was gorgeous, and she seemed to be a nice person, given how relaxed she was around her friends and her boyfriend. But she was also funny, and she looked over at him to encourage him to join in their conversation.

"Sorry," Jace said at one point. "I didn't actually know that it was your birthday today."

"Eh," Clary scrunched up her nose. "It's fine. Sebastian's the only one who makes a big deal about my birthday anyway."

"That's bullshit, your parents would make a bigger deal if you let them," Sebastian laughed, being weird and peeling a grape before putting it through his lips.

"Oh yeah, speaking about them," Clary popped one of the cut strawberries into her mouth and turned her eyes back to Jace. "They're doing like a barbeque thing next weekend. Just a get together for a bunch of us." Jace was guessing that it was for her birthday. "So make sure you're free, okay?" Now he was going to meet her parents? That felt...As though she considered him as part of their group. "Shit, don't freak out about it or anything—" his face must have paled slightly. "It's not some intense, meet the parents, they're pretty chill. And Alec and Izzy and everyone will be there as well, so there isn't going to be heaps of pressure on you."

"And we're going out tonight as well," Sebastian added. "So you'll come with us, right?"

"Um," Jace squinted, wondering if 'us' just meant Sebastian and Clary, or the rest of the group as well.

"It can be your birthday present to me," Clary said in a decisive tone, picking up her orange juice and sipping from it. Jace swung his eyes back to her, and from the way that she was sitting—legs slung over one arm of the chair, the white shirt she was wearing was pulled a little tighter over her chest, and Jace could now confirm that it was see through. "We're just gonna go out clubbing and shit, have some drinks and go dancing."

"I'm all for drinking, but I'm really not a dancer," Jace laughed awkwardly.

"Hey, I seem to remember some dancing," Sebastian piped up and Jace felt a shiver run through him, surprised that Sebastian was bringing up some of their time together, right in front of his girlfriend. When he glanced across at Clary though, she didn't seem to mind, and she looked right back at Jace.

"There we go, it's sorted," she smirked. "You'll come drinking _and_ dancing with us." Jace nodded and smiled as he picked up his orange juice. They finished the breakfast, and Jace lit up another cigarette, smoking it as he listened to Sebastian and Clary talked. Half an hour or so later, Clary got up and started clearing the table, and that started a mini-argument between the two lovers, Sebastian saying that it was her birthday and Clary arguing that he had made the breakfast, she could do the cleaning up. Jace solved the problem by getting up and beginning to clear the table. All three of them ended up clearing the table and Jace began washing the dishes despite their protests.

"So, it's not much, because I know that we don't really do presents and things," Sebastian's voice was quiet just outside the kitchen door. "But I made so upgrades to your car yesterday."

"Oh, Seb," Clary murmured, her voice even softer than his, Jace could only just make out the words from the next room. "So the oil change didn't need to happen?" Sebastian laughed, and Jace guessed that was what he had used as an excuse to get Clary's car yesterday.

"I did need to do that, but I also put in some new speakers and a new stereo," he told her and Jace couldn't quite hear her reaction. It didn't take him long to finish the dishes, since Sebastian had done a lot of the washing up as he had been cooking, and then he stood in the kitchen for a little bit longer, not sure if he should go out into the lounge. There wasn't any other way out of the kitchen, he was going to have to go out there to leave, but given the quiet that was coming from the adjoining room, he wasn't sure if he wanted to go out there.

He stood awkwardly in the kitchen for another ten minutes, sending off a text to Alec to ask if he and Magnus were home and if he could come over. Alec responded after a couple of minutes, saying they were still in bed, but they would be up soon, and he knows where the spare key is to let himself in. Then he walked out into the lounge and immediately spotted Clary and Sebastian on the couch. Clary was on top of Sebastian, her legs on either side of his, and one of Sebastian's hands was down the back of the shorts that she was wearing as they kissed.

"I'm just heading out," Jace told them quickly, and they pulled apart, Clary looking a little embarrassed with her cheeks pink, while Sebastian just gave Jace a lazy smile.

"We'll be leaving here around nine, so you can come with us or with Iz or Alec or someone," Sebastian told him. Jace nodded, giving them a tight smile before he quickly went to his room to get a jacket and his keys and wallet. When he came back out, they were making out again, and Sebastian just managed a one armed wave as Jace shoved on his shoes, but his attention was clearly focused on his girlfriend. Jace stole one last look over his shoulder at the pair of them—Clary's hands on either side of Sebastian's face and Sebastian's hands on her ass—and swallowed hard, before jogging down the steps and heading toward his bike.


	12. Chapter 12

Jace spent the day with Alec and Magnus', and Magnus' mother and grandmother. The woman were adamant on cooking the boys breakfast, even though Jace had already eaten, and then the boys went out into the backyard. They put Jace to work doing the lawns, while Magnus weeded the gardens and Alec set to work fixing the leg of the outdoor table. It felt good, and Jace worked up a sweat doing the lawns, going inside and showering and changing into a set of Alec's clothes.

Somewhere close to five in the evening, Magnus disappeared for his own shower, leaving Alec and Jace on the back doorstep, Jace smoking and Alec flicking at scrapes of flaking paint from a ceramic pot plant.

"So are you coming out with us tonight?" Alec asked.

"Uh, yeah, for Clary's birthday?" Jace clarified and Alec nodded. "Yeah, she invited me."

"So you guys are talking now?" Alec smirked and waved a hand toward Jace's face. "Did she do that to you?"

"No! Shit, that seems to be where people's minds go first," Jace rolled his eyes.

"Well, Clary can get pretty fiesty when she wants to," Alec shrugged.

"Okay, well, _no_ , I didn't get beaten up by a girl, and yes, she's talking to me now," Jace huffed as he took in a drag from his cigarette. Alec let out another laugh and nodded.

"That's good," Alec nodded. "So are you going to come to the club with us or are you heading back to Seb and Clary's first?"

"I don't think these clothes are going to make the cut," Jace noted wryly as he looked down at the sweatpants and the blue tee-shirt that didn't really fit well, because he and Alec were built differently. "I'll head off after dinner."

* * *

Jace didn't end up heading back to Clary and Sebastian's house until just after eight, which was later than he expected, but it was still time before they were going to head out around ten thirty, or at least that was what Magnus said. They were all going to meet at Clary and Sebastian's to have a few drinks, and then order a couple of cabs to pick them up. From the way that Magnus rattled off the plan, it sounded as though that was their usual plan. When Jace got back to the house, there was a car parked in the driveway, and he had to be careful about navigating his bike around it so as not to scratch it, parking it in the garage next to Clary's car and Sebastian's own bike. There was music playing inside, and it just got louder as he jogged up the steps and opened the backdoor.

"Jace!" Isabelle cried out as he came in, and his eyes raised as he saw his cousin in a pair of what looked like leather pants and a strappy red shirt. "Hey!" She walked over to him, throwing her arms around him and giving him a tight hug. "You need to go and get dressed so that you can get back out here and start drinking!" Jace raised his eyebrows, looking over to where Sebastian was sitting on the arm of the couch, and he grinned back.

"You're not drinking?" Jace asked, his arm still around Isabelle.

"Nah, I'm the designated sober one tonight," Sebastian replied with a grin.

"Magnus said that we were calling cabs?" Jace frowned.

"We will call some, but it's still a good idea if one of us have our head on straight. Especially once Clary and Magnus get together with alcohol involved," Sebastian smirked. Clary let out a laugh as she came into the room, and Jace couldn't help but feel his eyes widen in appreciation. She was wearing a black dress, that tied up loosely like a corset over her breasts, showing enough cleavage to make a mortal man's mouth water. There were thick black straps that went over her shoulders, and then as she turned to pour herself another drink, Jace saw the straps come together midway down her back, tied in a bow that fell against her tanned skin. Her back was almost completely exposed, and Sebastian seemed to like it, from the way that he reached up to splay a hand against her bare skin and press her closer to him, giving her a quick kiss.

"Just so you're aware, it was not Magnus and I that ended up arrested because we tried climbing through a drive-thru window at McDonalds to get more sauce for chicken nuggets," Clary retorted and Isabelle let out a loud laugh.

"I remember that! Holy shit," Isabelle tightened her grip on Jace as she grinned at him. "That was Alec and Seb."

" _Alec_?!" Jace blurted in surprise, trying to ignore the jealous stab in his stomach at just _another_ event that everyone else was present for, but he wasn't, even though he knew that it was stupid. "I mean, I can see you doing that—but Alec is always so..." he searched for the word.

"Boring?" Isabelle supplied with a snort.

" _No_!" Jace rolled his eyes at her. "Just more..."

"Uptight?" Isabelle tilted her head to the side. "Constantly wound tight like he's dialed to eleven? Goes around like he has a giant stick up his ass?" She paused and a salacious smile spread across her face. "Oh, wait..."

"Do _not_ even go there, Iz!" Sebastian groaned, crinkling his nose. "I don't need those kinds of images in my head of my two best friends." Clary grinned and wiggled her eyebrows.

" _I_ wouldn't mind those images," she said playfully, and Isabelle laughed, finally releasing Jace from her grip and walking over to her friend. "Let's go make some more drinks, Maia text me and said that she was going to be here soon." The two girls went into the kitchen, Clary picking up the remote for the stereo and turning up the music even louder as they went. Sebastian shook his head as he looked after the two girls, and then turned his gaze back to Jace.

"Everything all good?" He asked, his voice light but his eyes were serious.

"Yeah, just thought that you guys could use some time alone, especially since it's Clary's birthday," Jace replied, hoping that his smile didn't look as awkward as it felt.

"Alright, well, go get dressed, and then we'll get you drinking as well," Sebastian grinned.

* * *

Clary was drunk.

Magnus was drunker.

And funnily enough, it was Simon who was drunkest.

The first time—well, the only time—Jace had gone out drinking with the whole group, they had all been so comfortable with each other. They were clearly a group that knew each other well, but there was just something else that Clary brought to them, and it was like they were fully completed with the red head there.

Maia and Jordan had been the next pair to arrive at their house, and then Simon had showed—apparently he had needed to get Max to sleep before leaving him with the babysitter. Then Jon and Lydia, and finally Magnus and Alec. Before Magnus and Alec even got there, Maia, Isabelle and Clary were all drunk, with Lydia not too far behind them. The girls were mixing all kinds of shots together and passing them out. Jace had ended up with a couple, and they had been horrible, but he had thrown them back to stay in the spirit of things.

Sebastian had looked sorry for him as he hid his laugh behind his hand.

An old Black Eyed Peas song had came on, and Clary had squealed and run over to Alec, rambling about some party that they had gone to when they were teenagers. From what Jace could understand from Clary's rapid, and slightly slurred, speech, Alec had been drunk and had climbed on top of a table and rapped the whole thing.

That was definitely something Jace would pay to see, but unfortunately, Alec wasn't anywhere close to being drunk, so it was something that he would bring up another night.

The club was busy, swarming with people, but it turned out that Lydia sometimes worked there as well, and so did her friend, Camille Belcourt, so they skipped the front line outside and walked straight in, and they got their drinks served to them straight away. And then the girls disappeared into the throngs of people in the mosh pit, down a couple of steps and away from the high tables and bar stools that people were sitting and drinking at. Lydia had reserved them a table for the night on the second floor, and it seemed as though that was their usual table as Jon lead the way up the metal stairs that had fluorescent green and blue lights blinking up from them.

The table was close to the railing, so that they could see the whole club, and Magnus pointed out the girls after they had made themselves comfortable. They looked good, all of them laughing and twirling around each other, Clary's red hair catching the lights that were spinning from the ceiling, and Lydia's laugh reaching their ears.

It was almost an hour later before the girls came up to join them, big smiles on their faces and a sheen of sweat over their skin. They ordered a round of drinks, although Sebastian just said that he would have a beer, nothing too strong, and once they had got them, Clary's brother lifted his voice.

"Okay, okay, okay!" Jon shouted out, standing up. "So, I just wanted to say, a big happy birthday to my little sister!" There was a cheer from Lydia and Isabelle. The waiter came back, handing out the shots to everyone except for Sebastian, who just took his bottle of beer and grinned, shaking his head, as his friends booed him. "Right, so happy birthday, to my little sister. Who used to annoy the shit out of me when I was younger, because she used to follow me around and get me in trouble with mum." Clary poked her tongue out at her brother, but there was nothing but affection on both of their faces. "But, you know," Jon shrugged and smirked at her. "You grew up alright." Laughs broke out across the table, and Clary shook her head with a grin.

"Such a charmer, my big brother," Clary laughed. "Anyway—to me!" Clary lifted up her shot glass to the middle of the table, and everyone leaned in, clinking their glasses together and then throwing back their drinks. The music that was playing seemed to get even louder, and soon it was impossible to hear one another talking. Magnus dragged Alec down to the mosh pit of people grinding together, but it seemed as though they were pretty much just dry humping in the middle of the dance floor, rather than actually _dancing_. Lydia and Jon danced for a little bit, but then they disappeared, Sebastian muttering something to Jace about how Lydia would be taking him up to the employee lounge.

For a while, everyone was all dancing together—including Jace, who had been reluctant at first to be dragged into the crowds, but after Isabelle coaxed a few more shots into him, he was a bit more willing. Maia and Clary had their arms around each other, laughing and screaming out the lyrics to the songs in each others faces, Magnus and Alec had managed to unglue themselves from each other and actually join the semi-circle of people. Somehow Jace ended up next to Sebastian, which really wasn't the best position for him, because every now and then he caught a whiff of the cologne that Sebastian was wearing, and the blonde would jostle his arm and smile at him, and that was sending all sorts of thoughts through Jace's head. At one point, Sebastian threw his arm around Jace, grinning and giving him a squeeze.

But then, as people got even drunker, they began pairing up. Thankfully, there were plenty of gorgeous girls who wanted to dance with Jace, so he wasn't left awkwardly by himself, but he had to admit, his attention kept wandering back over to Sebastian and Clary as he danced with a pretty brunette.

Clary had her back to Sebastian, her legs lined up with his, her ass pressing hard against his groin. Sebastian had one hand on her hip, and the other was pressed to her lower stomach, edging closer to the apex of her legs. Sebastian had his head buried in her shoulder, and even though Jace was _trying_ not to stare at them like a total creep, he could tell that Sebastian was leaving kisses all over Clary's bare shoulder and her neck. From the way that Clary shivered, her eyes closing every few seconds as though she couldn't keep them open anymore, he also guessed that Sebastian was whispering all sorts of things into her ear.

What he wouldn't give to be Clary, getting that attention from Sebastian, hands pressed to his stomach and having dirty words whispered into his ear?

And then, surprisingly, another thought hit him. _What he wouldn't give to be Sebastian, with Clary's soft body against his?_

He didn't even know why he wanted the red head. If anything, he should still be jealous of her—and he was, he knew deep down he was—but something had shifted just a little. Maybe it was the fact that she seemed like a genuinely good person, his cousins and Sebastian and all of their friends seemed to adore her. There was still something that had been going on with her last week, when they had first met, but maybe that was on him as well. Whatever the case, last night they seemed to have turned a corner, he could still remember her gentle fingers against his face.

"Did you maybe want to get out of here?" The brunette asked, reaching up and tugging on his ear with her teeth.

_Get out of here, and definitely get laid._

_Stay here, definitely_ not _get laid, and probably listen to Sebastian and Clary having loud, drunken sex to the point of coming in his own hand?_

It was sad that there was really no competition as to which one won out.

"It's my friends birthday," he told the girl in a way that he hoped was apologetic. "So I need to stay here with them," he jerked his head over to his group of friends. The brunette nodded, looking disappointed but understanding. She danced with him for a little bit longer before she gave him a wet kiss on the mouth and disappeared into the crowd, undoubtedly to find someone who was willing to go home with her.

Isabelle came over and danced with him for a bit, and Lydia and Jon rejoined them sometime after midnight, Lydia's make up smearing, and a button missing from Jon's shirt, both of them with sloppy grins on their faces. Sebastian and Clary seemed pretty absorbed with each other, but Magnus danced over to them, sandwiching Clary in the middle and making a big show of grabbing Sebastian's ass. Sebastian laughed, rolling his eyes at Magnus' antics, and Clary laughed as well, her hair fiery between the two men.

It was almost three o'clock before they left the club. Isabelle and Simon had left just after one, saying that their baby-sitter left at half past. Lydia and Jon were the second ones to go, but after ordering another round of drinks—this time paid for by Jace—the rest of them were happy to keep going.

Some trashy pop song came on and both Jace and Clary squealed excitedly when it turned out that Alec knew every single word to it.

And then _Gangnam Style_ started playing, and Magnus and Clary did an incredibly enthusiastic, and albeit somewhat sloppily, dance routine.

Jace had thought that maybe he was making a mistake, saying no to the brunette. He could have gone back to her place and had a good time. But he was glad he had stayed, with his cousins, with Sebastian...With Clary.

At the end of the night, when they were heading out to get a cab, Sebastian was on the curb to wave one down and Clary was teetering on her heels, she wrapped an arm around Jace and patted him awkwardly on the head. Jace raised an eyebrow at her, and she just laughed, leaning a lot of her weight onto him as she watched her boyfriend finally hail down a cab. Clary squeezed in the middle, between the two men. She leaned her head on Sebastian's shoulder, and she slung one of her legs over Jace's knee, not caring that it made her dress hitch up. Sebastian smiled across at Jace as they drove home, and Jace felt his heart skip a beat at the soft way Sebastian looked at him.

Jace heard them having sex again that night.

Clary made these high pitched moaning noises that went on forever, punctuated a couple of times by her sighing out Sebastian's name. Jace could almost pinpoint the exact moment that she orgasmed—and it happened three times—before he heard Sebastian's voice, talking in low tones.

He must have been eating her out, tongue buried inside her cunt, tasting the best part of her.

Jace remembered that same tongue in his mouth, around his cock, in his ass.

He came in a sticky mess over his fingers before the bed in the room down the hall had stopped banging against the wall, and he listened in a tired daze as Sebastian came, groaning out Clary's name.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Pride Month, ya'll!

Jace didn't think he had ever hated Sebastian.

Until today.

Today, he hated Sebastian _with a passion_.

But he comforted himself with the fact that Clary seemed to hate him as well.

"More coffee," Clary grunted, shoving her coffee cup across the table to Sebastian. She looked like death, her face pale, her eyes blood shot, her long red hair pulled back in a messy bun on top of her head, strands escaping and hanging scraggly against her cheeks. Her make up hadn't been scrubbed off last night, and so she looked something like a raccoon, dark eye make up all smudged in big circles around her eyes.

Not that Jace was judging.

Because he was guessing he didn't look all that much better.

He hadn't even thought he had drunk that much last night, but now that he was sitting on the couch this morning, nursing a cup of black coffee in his hands and hissing everytime the sun hit his face, he realized that he had had a lot more than he had initially thought. He tried to mentally count how many drinks he had thrown back last night, but then his stomach rolled over, and he wondered if he might throw up for the first time in years because of a hangover, so then he resolved _not_ to think about last night.

"Do you guys want me to go and get you something to eat?" Sebastian asked with a cheery grin, looking golden, and healthy, and _far too fucking happy_.

"Fuck off," Clary grunted. "Get me more coffee." Sebastian just laughed, and both her and Jace groaned at the noise and pulled the fingers at him.

"How about I make you more coffee, you guys go shower and shit—you _know_ you'll feel better. And I'll also go get you some food, okay? I'll get McDonalds," he added that as though it was a winning bargaining chip. Which it definitely was in Jace's book, and apparently was in Clary's as well.

"I want a hundred hash browns," Clary grumped, and Sebastian snorted.

"Go shower," he told her. Clary dragged herself off the couch and stumbled out of the room. Jace just closed his eyes and slumped back against the cushions. He could vaguely hear Sebastian moving around but he was too tired and in far too much pain to open his eyes and follow the man with his gaze. It wasn't until he felt a gentle hand resting on his shoulder that his eyes opened. "Here," Sebastian said quietly, handing him two painkillers and a glass of water. "This'll help." Jace tried to crack a smile, but it felt more like a grimace, and took the painkiller, throwing them back with a mouthful of water. Sebastian was still standing over him, watching him after he had swallowed, and Jace was surprised when the other man reached out and ran his fingers gently through Jace's hair.

It did all kinds of weird things to his heart, and his stomach flipped over a couple of times.

"Right, I'm going to head down to McDonalds, I'll just splurge on their breakfast menu," Sebastian said as he stepped back. "Have a shower after Clary, and I've put on another pot of coffee." Jace nodded, the skin of his forehead still tingling from where Sebastian had just touched him.

Jace stayed out in the lounge, almost falling asleep twice before Clary came out, wearing a pair of baggy sweatpants and a sports bra, and told him that the shower was all his. Jace's stomach was churning, and despite the coffee and the painkillers, his head still felt like a complete mess. He considered just going back to bed after the shower, but he was pretty keen on the greasy food that Sebastian had gone out to get. He lost track of how long he was in the shower, just leaning against the cool tile wall and letting the water run over his face and down his body.

When he finally dragged himself out of the shower and got dressed, he could hear Sebastian's voice in the lounge. He came into the lounge, not feeling quite as shit as he did before, but he blinked in surprise when he saw what had happened in the lounge. The couches had been pushed backwards so that there was a space big enough for a mattress to be dragged out and put in front of the TV.

"Sometimes this is how we spend our Sundays," Sebastian said with a grin as he saw Jace staring at the blankets and pillows that were dumped on the mattress. Clary came back into the room, with a cup of coffee in one hand and a hash brown in it's paper packing in the other. She glanced at Jace for a moment before stepping onto the mattress and making herself comfortable. "Come on," Sebastian said to Jace as he sat down down on the mattress and held out the paper McDonalds bag to him. Clary shuffled closer to Sebastian, purposefully making some room for Jace as she stared up at the TV.

All three of them, on a mattress.

That was making all kinds of thoughts fly through his head, even though he was pretty sure both he and Clary still felt too sick to do any of them.

"I'm just gonna have a cigarette," he told them, carefully stepping around the mattress and walking out the open door. The breeze felt good, which was probably why they had it open, to let it into the lounge. Jace made sure to take a few steps away from the house so that the cigarette smoke didn't go inside, and tried to calm himself down.

They were hungover, and it was a lazy Sunday.

They were just gonna watch movies.

It didn't mean anything, other than the fact that they were close friends.

Well, maybe he and Sebastian were close friends, but Clary...Maybe she was just welcoming him in.

In all honesty, he probably wasn't even going to be awake for the whole thing, he was probably going to fall asleep in half an hour if he was stretched out on a mattress with a blanket over him.

Great.

 _Falling asleep_ with Sebastian and Clary.

That just brought on a whole new wave of thoughts that he should really be avoiding.

After Jace finished his cigarette he went back inside. He hesitated when it came to sitting on the mattress, but Clary lifted the blanket up next to her, her eyes still on the TV, as though it was just an automatic, normal movement. Like she invited him to climb onto a mattress with them any other day. Jace glanced over at Sebastian, who smiled and jerked his head in an invitation to join them. He handed over the McDonalds bag and Jace was hit with a wave of how hungry he was and he buried his hand into the bag to try and find something to eat. There were a couple of hash browns left in the bag and a bacon and egg bagel.

Sebastian was sitting up on the mattress, watching the movie that was playing on TV, while Clary was laying down, blanket pulled up near her torso, and her body curved slightly so that she could rest her head on Sebastian's lap. From the way that she was bent, it meant her ass and legs were only a few inches away from Jace's legs, he could feel her body heat underneath the blanket. Jace was a bit scared to move, not wanting to move around too much and touch her, so he stayed awkwardly stiff for nearly half an hour.

Clary fell asleep soon, and she changed her position. Sebastian moved around as well, slumping down underneath the blankets and then raising his eyebrows at Jace.

"We're not gonna bite, you know," he noted playfully.

"Oh, so you've changed your preferences then?" Jace shot back with a teasing glint in his eye. Sebastian looked surprised and Jace was worried that maybe he had crossed a line. But then Sebastian huffed out a laugh and rolled his eyes.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Sebastian snarked back, and Jace bit his tongue, because his answer to that would _definitely_ not be appropriate, especially with Sebastian's girlfriend lying right between them. "Just make yourself comfortable, you look about as shitty as she does." Jace snorted and looked down at Clary. She was fast asleep, her pink lips slightly open, and they looked so incredible soft. Jace knew what Sebastian meant when he said that she looked shitty, given her skin was a whole lot more pale than it usually was, and her eyes had been puffy and blood shot, but she still looked beautiful.

"You're lucky," Jace couldn't stop himself before the words were out of his mouth, and Sebastian—who had turned back to the TV—whipped his head around to look at Jace. "To have her. And her to have you." Sebastian stared at Jace for a beat, and he looked almost sad. But then his lips shifted up in a smile, even though it didn't reach his eyes, and nodded his head.

"I know," Sebastian answered.

Jace managed to watch another ten minutes of the movie, before he fell asleep as well.

* * *

When Jace woke up, the room was a lot darker than it had been when he had fallen asleep, and he frowned, wondering how long he had slept for. It had been close to eleven when they had all gathered in the lounge, but he definitely didn't think that he had slept long enough for it to be dark outside. But as his eyes adjusted, he realized that there was still daylight coming through the window in the opposite room. Either Sebastian or Clary—probably Sebastian—had gotten up and closed the curtains in the lounge, so that they had been swathed in darkness, other than some light coming from the room opposite them, and from the TV.

He also realized that there was a heavy, warm weight on his chest, and over his legs. Jace blinked a few more times and tilted his head down, seeing a mess of red hair on his chest.

Clary.

She was asleep _on_ him.

She was sprawled out over his chest, an arm around his waist, her head on his chest, and it felt like one of her legs was twined around his. Her weight was comforting and she was warm, and Jace felt his heart contract at the way she had wrapped herself around him, as though they had always done this. She was still fast asleep, but as Jace turned his head, he saw that Sebastian was awake. He had pulled one of the arm chairs closer to the mattress, so while he was still sitting next to them, he could lean back against the chair to support his back. So far, he didn't seem aware that Jace was awake, his eyes fixed on the TV, one of his hands resting on Clary's back.

So he knew that his girlfriend was laying pretty much on top of him.

Jace tried to stay quiet, not wanting to disrupt either Clary or Sebastian, but after a few moments, Sebastian seemed to sense the eyes on him, and he looked over at Jace.

The air between them felt charged.

There was something simmering in his dark eyes that sent a spike of arousal right down to Jace's cock, which wasn't helped by the fact that Clary's knee seemed to be resting _right there_ , and putting pressure against him. Jace couldn't look away from Sebastian, swallowing hard as he stared at the other man.

It was Clary that broke the moment, making a snuffling noise as she moved, rolling over so that she was no longer pressed up against Jace, turning so that she was facing Sebastian. She was still pressed up against Jace, her back and legs against the length of his body, and one of her hands reached out as though instinctively for Sebastian. She loosely gripped his shirt, making a contented noise in the back of her throat as Sebastian smoothed his hand over her forehead, and then her breathing evened out again as she fell back asleep.

Jace swallowed again, so hard that it felt as though his breath was going to get stuck in his throat, and he looked away from Sebastian. He wondered if he should get up from the mattress, maybe go into his own bedroom, but he was still tired, and he was so comfortable, and it wasn't as though Sebastian was telling him to leave.

In fact, he was pretty certain that if he looked back over at Sebastian, the expression on his face was saying the _opposite_ of 'go away'.

Clary was still fast asleep, her body warm against his, and he let his body relax again, the tension leaving his body as Clary shifted again, twining her foot between his legs, resting against his ankle. He tugged his pillow closer to him, and he fell asleep again within minutes.

* * *

Clary was awake the next time Jace woke up and sometime after six, they ordered in pizza and sat on the bed, carefully not to drop any of the toppings onto the blankets. Around ten, Sebastian dragged the mattress back down to the bedroom, and Clary gathered up the blankets, almost tripping over the blankets that were trailing under her feet as she walked out of the room. Jace tried to bite back his laugh at her awkward hop-skip to keep her balance, but obviously she heard, because she looked over her shoulder and mock-glared at him, but there was a playful smile on her face as well.

The rest of the week felt better than the week before.

Clary was around more, and he didn't feel awkward or like he was encroaching on their time together. Sometimes she was gone in the morning when Jace got up, so he gathered that Sebastian had been telling the truth when he said that she was out, going for a run. Sebastian had also been steadfast on Clary not working any more overtime if there was no-one else there with her, and so that meant she was home most evenings throughout the week, except for Wednesday, when a group of them were working late.

They cooked dinner together, twice, all three of them bumping around together in the kitchen. The kitchen hadn't seemed small, but it was definitely crowded when there were three adults trying to work around each other. Somehow, though, they made it work; Sebastian putting his hand on Clary's side gently to move her out of his way, Clary bumping her hips against the boys playfully when they were standing somewhere that she needed to be, Sebastian flicking water at Jace when he was washing the dishes.

The way it felt with them...It was easy.

It felt as though they had been doing this for far longer than a week, and Jace felt as though he had known Clary for longer than two weeks. It felt as though the awkwardness between them in the first week had never happened, and even though he felt a clench of jealousy in his stomach when he saw Sebastian and Clary kissing and laying over each other in the evenings when they were watching TV, he didn't feel particular resentment for either one of them.

Jace was still trying to figure out what had happened, how he had managed to make things right with Clary. Not that there were things going _wrong_ beforehand, but they had definitely started off on the wrong foot. Maybe that was his fault, he had kind of been giving off vibes that he was completely uninterested and almost angry at her when they had first met. But he liked it now, he liked how it felt to be around them.

He could be happy with their friendship.

He _would_ be happy with their friendship.

He had to be.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait, guys.  
> Life is crazy.

"Come on, come on, we're running late!" Clary sung out as she got out of her car and waited for Sebastian and Jace to get out as well. Jace was in the backseat, and he was trying to cover up how nervous he felt about meeting her  _parents_  as Sebastian slammed the passenger door shut. It wasn't as if the pressure was all going to be on him, but from everything that he had heard in the garage throughout the week, everyone got on really well with Clary's parents. He wanted to make a good impression, just like he had wanted to with all of their group of friends; wanting to  _belong_  with them.

"We're only late coz of you!" Sebastian called after Clary, who just pulled the fingers over her shoulder as she skipped off ahead of them. Sebastian rolled his eyes as he waited for Jace to catch up to him. There were already a couple of cars parked on the street, he recognized Jon's, Simon's and Magnus' as several of them, and was guessing that the others probably belonged to some of their other friends as well. The house was nice, a two storied place with a tidy garden out the front, and a brick path leading up to white stairs, that opened onto a wide deck. Clary was already going up the steps and following the deck around the side of the house, where music could be faintly heard.

"Oh, shit, what are her parents names?" Jace asked quickly as they began up the stairs. "I meant to ask earlier."

"Dude, don't look so panicked," Sebastian laughed and shook his head as they reached the deck and began to follow in the same direction that Clary had gone. "They're awesome, totally go with the flow and everything. So there's her mum, Jocelyn. And then there's her dad's, there's Luke and Valentine—"

"Wait!" Jace gripped Sebastian's arm in confusion just as they rounded the corner to see the back yard filled with people. "' _Dad's_ '?" Sebastian's eyebrows pulled together as though  _he_  was the one that was confused, and opened his mouth to say something when they were interrupted.

"Seb! About time you showed up! I need your help with the barbeque!" Came a shout from a handsome, dark-skinned man who was standing next to probably the biggest barbeque that Jace had ever seen.

"I offered to help!" Jon protested from where he was sitting at the picnic table, sunglasses propped on top of his head and a beer in his hand.

"Yeah, yeah, you offered half an hour ago and you're  _still_  sitting on your ass," the man shot back with a smirk, shaking his head as he looked back over at Sebastian and then at Jace, as though noticing him for the first time. "Oh, you must be Jace," he grinned and put down the metal barbeque utensil he was using, taking the few steps over and holding out his hand. "I'm Luke."

"Hi," Jace managed to say, blinking slowly, still processing what Sebastian had said to him. So it  _hadn't_  been a weird phrase when Jace had said 'one of Clary's dad's' when he was first telling him about them.

"And I know that you've met the rest of this lot," Luke grinned as he shook Jace's hand and then waved over his shoulder to where Jon, Lydia, Isabelle, Simon and Max were. He knew Alec and Magnus were there somewhere as well, but maybe they were inside the house. "This is Valentine, Clary's dad, and Jocie is somewhere inside, that's Clary's mum." Valentine Morgenstern smiled at Jace, reaching out his hand.

"You're living with our girl and Seb, aren't you?" Valentine smiled as he shook Jace's hand, before reaching out and resting his hand on Luke's shoulder in a familiar, comforting way.

"Y-yeah," Jace nodded. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Magnus come out of the house with a glass tray filled with meat, and he was relieved when the handsome man came over and distracted Valentine and Luke. Jace backed away from them, putting some distance between himself and the people around him, processing the information that he had just been given. He, of course, knew that there were relationships that were polyamorous, although he had never actually seen one functioning. The only sort of threeway relationships he had been around were the sexual kind. He was guessing that both Jon and Clary were biologically Jocelyn and Valentine's, given they both had pale skin, but as Clary skipped over and threw her arms around Luke, giving him a loud kiss on the cheek, the love between them was clear.

"Happy birthday, Clare Bear," Luke murmured as he put an arm around her shoulders. Jace looked away, because the way that Clary smiled and ducked her head against his chest, cosying up to his side, the whole thing felt like he was intruding on a moment. Magnus gave him a smile before handing over the glass tray filled with meat to Sebastian, who had taken up a position at the barbeque.

As the afternoon went on, Jace was properly introduced to Jocelyn, who was a beautiful, older looking model of Clary, with the flowing red hair and the exquisite green eyes. She had the same sort of flow about her as well, moving from person to person with an easy, friendly confidence. Even though this barbeque was technically for Clary's birthday, other than a cake being brought out and placed in front of the girl, it was more just a family get together.

And  _he_  was a part of it.

Even though he was there, even though they were sitting around him—Alec was laughing and shaking his head as Simon ran his mouth about some video game he was playing, and Jocelyn and Clary were cooing over Max—and even though there was a cold beer against the palm of his hand, he felt separated. Like there was a space between where they were and where he was.

Because they were all so happy, and they all clearly loved each other, and they knew each other, and it was like when he was around their group of friends and they all had such history with each other, and he was the odd one out.

"Hey," Clary's voice was gentle as she rounded the table to where he had been sitting. "You want some cake?" She had a plate in her hand, with a thick slice of chocolate cake with cream and berry filling spilling out of it.

"Thanks," Jace flashed her a quick smile as he took it from her. Their fingers brushed as she passed the plate, and Jace couldn't help but steal another look up at her from underneath her eyelashes. Things had been good with them the past week, but he couldn't forget how it had felt when he was lying on the mattress with the two of them when they were recovering from their hangovers. How warm and comforting and soft Clary's body had been, twined around his, and how deep and confusing and charged the moment had been when his eyes had met Sebastian's gaze over the red heads body.

"You alright?" Her voice was a bit quieter now, and Jace appreciated it. Everyone else was distracted by various things, and he didn't want any attention to be drawn to him.

"I'm fine," Jace told her, forcing another smile. Clary pursed her lips and it looked as though she wanted to press further, but she restrained herself. She nodded and walked back over to where her brother was standing with Alec and Magnus. Jace's eyes flickered over to where Jocelyn, Luke and Valentine were standing. They weren't crowded together, but they were clearly  _together_. There was just something in the air that surrounded him, like when Jocelyn moved, Luke and Valentine swayed slightly toward her, or when Valentine laughed, Jocelyn and Luke's smiles grew.

It was nice.

But it made him wonder things about Clary and Sebastian, things that he had been trying to push to the back of his mind, ever since he had moved down here. And especially since he had moved in with the couple.

It was almost four o'clock in the afternoon, and everyone was spread out through the backyard, in different groups, some still drinking while others were laying on their backs on the ground, staring up at the blue sky. Max was tired and was contentedly sitting on Simon's lap, trying to stubbornly stay awake even though his eyes kept closing. Jace took in a deep breath, getting up from his seat and walking up to the deck that wound around the house. He made his way to the front, where he could be alone, resting his forearms against the railing of the deck and taking in a couple of deep breaths.

"Mind if I join you?" Sebastian's voice was tentative as he approached Jace. Jace nodded, but he couldn't quite bring himself to smile. Sebastian came over to stand next to him, putting a little bit of space between them as he rested his forearms against the railing in a similar fashion, slumping forward. "They're great, right?" He jerked his head toward the back of the house, and Jace was guessing he meant Clary's parents.

"Yeah," Jace answered honestly, scratching the back of his neck. "What they have...I mean, it works for them?"

"Yeah," Sebastian nodded. "That's what I meant, when I said that Jon and Clary's parents had a complex relationship. Luke lived here, and he was a property manager, had heaps of houses, while Valentine and Jocelyn were in New York with the kids. They had been seeing each other since Clary was about five and Jon was eight, but it had been a long distance thing. They all ended up moving out here, once they realized how serious they were."

"So Clary..." Jace bit down hard at the inside of his cheek, before deciding just to ask. "How long have you and Clary been dating?" Sebastian paused, and that gave Jace an idea of the answer. "How long?" He pressed.

"We've been living together two years," Sebastian said quietly, looking ahead. "We started seeing each other when Clary was seventeen and I was eighteen, but we were on and off for a while." Jace felt his stomach clench. So Clary had at  _least_  been in the picture when Sebastian had been in New York... "We were pretty serious since about three and a half years ago." Clary had  _definitely_  been in the picture when Sebastian had been in New York, then, since the second and third time they had met had been within the past three and a half years.

Jace tried to swallow down the horrible taste that was rising in his throat.

It wasn't as though he had any kind of claim over Sebastian.

Shit, if anything, he should be feeling sorry for  _Clary_ , because Sebastian had been cheating on  _her_  for  _him_.

But then, Sebastian and Clary seemed steady. They seemed as though they knew things about each other, and were comfortable. And Sebastian had said that Clary knew about what had happened between them.

"She moved away for a bit, right out of high school," Sebastian was talking again, and Jace tuned back in, trying to ignore all the thoughts that were running through his head. The weird feeling of  _betrayal_ , even though he had absolutely no right to feel that way. It had just been a one night stand, or, a fling, was probably the better way to explain it. A fling that had happened a couple of times, over several years. That he had clearly read too much into. "She moved to Boston for a year, to start her studies, before transferring back. It was during that time that I first went to New York, and...Met you for the first time." Sebastian sucked his lower lip into his mouth, and Jace really wished that it didn't make his mouth look even more red and kissable, because he was  _angry_  right now, he wasn't meant to be having thoughts about pressing his lips against Sebastian's. "When she came back, it got more serious between us. I was honest, I told her about you...You were the only guy that I ever did anything with...Ever felt anything for..."

"Mm," Jace hummed out non-committedly, even though that made him a little bit proud.  _Glad_  that at least he was the only one in that regard. It was stupid, but the feeling was definitely there, sitting in his stomach.

"There had been a couple of girls, but none that had meant anything. It was simple," Sebastian shrugged and glanced quickly at Jace, obviously a bit nervous about what he was going to say next. "I loved Clary, and I wanted to be with her."

"Then why did you come back to New York?" Jace asked, hoping that the hurt in his voice wasn't too evident. Sebastian's arm twitched, as though he was thinking about reaching out and touching Jace. He stopped himself, though, and Jace was glad, because he didn't know how he would react if he had reached out. His heart was tight in his chest. This was probably the opposite of the best time to talk about this kind of thing, at Sebastian's  _girlfriends parents house_. And yet, somehow, this was where they were having this discussion. "Why did you come to New York and come to be...With me?" His voice lowered, coming out almost as a rasp. Sebastian took in a deep breath through his nose, and out of the corner of his eye, Jace saw him wring his hands together, nervously.

"I liked you, Jace," Sebastian answered, so quietly that Jace had to strain to hear him. "I liked you a lot. And Clary...Clary knew how I felt about her, but she also knew how I felt about you. She said that as long as I was honest and open about it with her, then she didn't mind. I guess that came from growing up with parents in a relationship like hers." Jace swallowed hard. "There had never been anyone else for her, and you were the only one that I was ever with while I was officially back with her." Jace couldn't understand how Clary had been okay with Sebastian practically cheating on her. It was as though they had an open relationship, but then he had never caught a glimpse of that while he had been staying with them.

But that wasn't the thing that bothered him the most.

"So you were honest with her...But not with me," Jace concluded, straightening up, taking a step toward the stairs that lead down the deck and to the pathway. "You were honest with Clary, because you loved her, and I was just a piece of ass."

"No, Jace..." Sebastian straightened up as well, and his face was pained. "That wasn't it—look, you just never seemed all that interested." Jace's eyes flew open at that, and he couldn't help but let out a sarcastic snort. Sebastian's face changed then, from hurt to almost angry. "Look, I gave you my number. You never text me. I didn't think..." he trailed off and shrugged, licking his lower lip nervously. "I didn't think you were interested. I thought that it was just a fun... _Thing_  for you, just for when I was in town."

"You have no idea how much I liked you!" Jace blurted out, without even thinking. "I didn't text you because there was no point! You lived hours away and it would just make it harder to get over you, if—if we were in contact! I couldn't do that to myself!" Sebastian's eyebrows pulled together, and there was a regretful expression on his face. "The way I opened up to you...The way I trusted you, it was different from anyone else. I fucking  _lived_  for the next time you would show up in my life, but I just never knew when it would be, or even  _if_  it would be. That number exchange, it didn't just go one way. I gave you my number as well, and you never text either. It goes  _both ways._ "

"Jace..." he began, stepping forward, but Jace pulled away again.

"No, Sebastian," he shook his head, so many times that the inside of his skull thumped. "I...I need to go. Just let me have some space." Sebastian looked as though he wanted to argue, but he stopped himself, watching as Jace stormed down the front path, turning and disappearing as he stalked down the road.


	15. Chapter 15

Jace got lost not long after he left the birthday lunch, but he refused to give Sebastian a call, and ask for him to come and find him. So instead he walked, he kept on walking, getting more and more lost. He found himself in a park, and as the sun started going down, he sent off a text to Alec with the street name that he could see behind the playground where a couple of children were playing, asking for his cousin to come and pick him up.

It wasn't even as though the past two hours of walking around aimlessly and just getting lost in his head, he really hadn't thought about all that much.

He had overreacted.

He knew that.

Because Sebastian was right; he  _had_  left his phone number with Jace, and it had been Jace's choice not to reach out to him. He had his reasons, and in all honesty, he didn't regret those reasons at all. Because being separate from Sebastian but still connected by text message and perhaps the occasional phone call would have just dragged out the pain even more. He would have probably found out about Clary as well, Jace didn't doubt that Sebastian would have told him if they were actually in contact, and a part of him had already guessed that someone as great as Sebastian wouldn't be single. That was just  _another_  reason why he hadn't text or called.

Alec text him back, not asking about why Jace had disappeared so suddenly or if he was okay, simply saying that he would be there soon with Magnus, which Jace really appreciated. Jace stayed on the park bench, watching as a little boy with a bright yellow toy truck ran around the outskirts of the park, evading his harried mothers arms. Even though it was clear that she was frustrated, she let out a huff of laughter when he spun around suddenly, letting out a happy squeal as he threw his arms up for her to pick him up. The littles boys face was a complete picture of innocence, and his mother pressed a few kisses to the pale skin of his forehead before carrying him back over to where she had put her bag down.

He wondered if he and his mother had ever done anything like this.

He was pretty sure the answer was  _no_.

Magnus' mother and grandmother didn't say anything when the three men walked into the house, so maybe Magnus had text them or called them, to let them know that Jace was going to be coming home with them. Devi and Diana smiled widely at him, and then asked the men if they were hungry, because they had—of course—cooked enough to feed all of them twice over.

Jace stayed Saturday night, and then he stayed Sunday night as well. Sebastian had text him a couple of times, but then he had stopped after he didn't get a reply. Jace didn't hear from Clary, but he tried not to feel too hurt. Despite the leaps and bounds that their friendship had taken over the past couple of weeks, it wasn't as though there were any real roots to their relationship. Jace probably spent more time in the shower, staring at the water droplets chase each other down the glass door in front of him, not really thinking about anything, just feeling sorry for himself, than actually washing himself.

Because Sebastian was right.

And he was stupid.

He really had no right to expect anything of Sebastian, not when he was living in New York and Sebastian was here in Los Angeles.

And Sebastian had been correct, he had given his number to Jace, but Jace had never used it, not wanting to stretch out and hope that maybe he could have something more and then have his dreams stamped on.

If he had tried to pursue something with Sebastian, who knows what might have happened?

At the very least, he would have found out about Clary. Or at least, he was assuming he would, he couldn't imagine that would be something that Sebastian would try to hide. Sure, he hadn't told him about Clary when they were in the city, but Sebastian had blatantly said that he didn't think Jace wanted anything more. Didn't want to know anything further about his life.

At the end of the day, if he had wanted to pursue Sebastian, he had that opportunity, and he chose not to.

He should never had gotten involved with Sebastian in the first place.

Or he should have stopped himself from getting back together with him the second and third time when he realized the feelings that he had for the blonde.

Sebastian didn't have to tell him about Clary, it wasn't as if they were together. And  _of course_  he had told Clary, because they had history. Sebastian  _loved_  her. They were  _honest_  with each other. And Clary loved him, and apparently had never viewed Jace as a threat, given she didn't seem to have had any problem with her boyfriend swanning off to New York and spending extended weekends with Jace. Or maybe she did see him as a bit of a threat, and that was why she thought it was better for Sebastian to get this desire he had toward Jace out of his system before things got serious between them and they moved in together.

His thoughts were a mess and his mind was flitting from one thought to another, and on Sunday, he pretty much just camped out on Alec and Magnus' couch and watched one soap opera after another with Diana, the elderly Indonesian woman catching him up on all the gossip of the shows. She seemed very in the know about the backgrounds of every single one of the characters.

It was a good distraction.

But then it was Monday morning, and Jace had to go into work with Alec, and he really didn't have any excuse not to go in, other than he felt embarrassed to face Jonathon, when he had all but run away from his parents place, and Sebastian, who he had kind of just acted immaturely around.

He had been upset, that was his excuse, but he had still been irrational, and a lot of it was just his fault, because he had never been open with Sebastian, with  _how much_  he had liked him. And if he had just reached out and  _told_  Sebastian how he felt...Well, he didn't know  _what_  would be different, but maybe something  _could_ have been.

"Hey, Jace!" Jem called out, a wide grin on the young mans face as he walked through the door. "Hey, Alec!" Alec grinned at Jace, before casting a quick look over at Jace, who had walked in beside him, his chin jutted forward determinedly. It didn't seem as though Jem knew anything about what had happened that weekend, and when Jon came into view, ducking out from his office with a clipboard in his hand, he gave both of them quick greeting smiles and a nod. Jace was surprised, expecting Jon to rebuff him, or maybe ignore him. Jace swallowed hard as his eyes flitted around the garage, seeking out Sebastian even though he was trying to stop himself.

"Okay, Alec, do you mind taking out the truck? I just got a call from this woman—sounds like there was a bunch of kids in the background," Jon made a face before reaching inside his office door and grabbing some keys off the hook inside. "See if her insurance covers hiring a car, and if it doesn't, give her the courtesy car, we don't have it booked for anyone."

"What's the address?" Alec asked as he walked across the garage to get the keys off Jon. Jace stopped listening as he realized that his buffer, fashioned as his cousin, was about to disappear and leave him in the garage alone. He shrugged out of the hoodie that he had borrowed from Alec putting it in the cubby-holes beside the door and pulling on a pair of overalls, rolling the arms up and leaving it unzipped halfway down his chest. "I'll be back later," Alec called out, meaning it as a general goodbye, although lifting an eyebrow at Jace as though to check he was okay.

"Jace," it was Sebastian's voice behind him, low and gentle, as though not wanting to frighten Jace away. Jace swallowed again, feeling his chest constrict as he half turned in Sebastian's direction. Sebastian looked nervous, uncertain, shifting from foot to foot, but he gave Jace a weak smile.

"Hey," Jace's voice didn't sound anywhere near as strong as he hoped it would have been.

"Uh," Sebastian glanced over at Jem, who wasn't paying any attention to them at all, already dressed in his overalls and standing in front of the stereo, flipping through the iPod that was plugged in to the aux cord, getting a new playlist ready for the day. "I just wanted to say...I'm sorry that it came out...Like that," he gave a one shouldered shrug and licked his tongue over his lower lip. "I really didn't mean to make you feel as though you weren't welcome, or that I didn't care about you. Because you are, and  _I do_." Jace licked his lips and rubbed them together as he searched for something to say. But it was then that Jem seemed to decided to start singing across the garage, shaking his slim hips and belting out some old Miley Cyrus song.

"If you don't change that shit, I'm going to throw your iPod underneath the wheels of the next car that comes in here!" Jon grumped from where he was back in his office, but the threat fell on deaf ears, given he threatened to destroy Jem's iPod at least twice a day.

"Uh," Sebastian took in a deep breath and then looked around the garage. "Right, you want to help Jem out? This car's gonna need to go off to the panel beaters from the shape that it's in, to see if it's even worth fixing, so I'll give them a call," he nodded over to a car that must have been dropped off during the weekend, and looked as though it had slammed straight into a lamp post, or a tree.

"Alright," Jace nodded, and headed over to where Jem was now working on the engine of a beat up looking Ford. He could feel Sebastian's eyes on his back, but he forced himself to ignore them and focus on the Ford. After a few minutes, he heard clanking around behind him and knew that Sebastian was working on the other car.

Alec got back to the garage with the pick up truck and a car on the back around half an hour later, and there was a harried looking woman in the cab next to him. It turned out that she had two kids, one who was late for school and another who needed to be dropped off at daycare, so Alec had made a couple of stops on the way back, which is why it had taken a while. The woman only had the most basic of insurance cover, so she didn't have it in her policy for a rental car to be provided, and she was worrying about how she was going to get to work and get her kids around. Jon was all gentle smiles and reassurances, telling her that they had no problem with giving her the courtesy car until her car was fixed.

 _All_  of them were such good people, not just the people who worked at the garage, but also just the group of friends that he had found himself in.

While Jon seemed to have a bit of a harder, more sarcastic edge that a lot of them, he still had a good heart. Jem was just adorable, sort of like their mascot, with the way he was always singing and making the lot of them laugh. Alec didn't open up to people very easily, he had always been like that, but he had a hard of gold under the rough exterior. Isabelle, who was always welcoming and sweet, and Simon, who seemed a bit geeky, but caring. Sebastian, who Jace already knew was a great guy, who had pretty much admitted that he had felt something more for Jace but felt as though Jace just didn't want more—and yet he still welcomed Jace into his home when he needed to stay.

Then there was Clary. Who knew that Sebastian—her  _boyfriend_ —had had a fling with another guy, and then still been okay with him staying at her place. And staying there alone with him as well, while she was out of the city. He didn't understand an open relationship—and even if that open relationship was now definitely  _closed_ , he didn't get how Clary had been okay with Sebastian fooling around with Jace. But now, even if she had previously been fine with it, she was under no obligation to let Jace into their home.

But she had.

And that just made this whole thing harder, because Jace so wanted to be a part of their world, be a part of this extended family that they had formed, and he was being stupid, letting some feelings for a guy that he barely knew mess things up. Sebastian had been honest with him, and he had acted like a kid throwing a tantrum and taken off.

The day passed by painfully slow, but no one made any comment about what had happened in the weekend, and it definitely didn't seem as though Jem knew anything about it. When they broke for lunch, all of them headed over to Jon's house, like they often did when they weren't heading to the diner down the road to buy something. Magnus had cooked up lunch for the three of them this morning, something fancy and covered with herbs, that was amazing, and the other boys had a variation of sandwiches and buns. Jon and Jem kept conversation going, Jem talking about what he and his girl had done in the weekend, and Jon recounting an awkward encounter when he and Lydia were out last night and had run into her dad with his new girlfriend, who only looked about a year or two older than his daughter. Alec was quiet most of the time, and although Sebastian joined with teasing Jem about how love struck he was, he wasn't quite as vocal as he usually was, his eyes flicking over to Jace every few minutes.

When the day ended and the boys were all cleaning their hands, getting ready to leave, Sebastian waited at the door as Jace finished up. Alec was already outside, standing near his car and talking to Jem, and Jon was still in his office.

"So, Jace?" Sebastian gave him a hopeful smile. "Did you...Are you coming back tonight?" Jace already knew the answer—had known the answer since he had walked into the garage this morning. He stayed quiet as he picked up the towel from the hook next to the sink, drying his hands before turning around to Sebastian.

"I've still got some clothes at Alec's—the ones from the weekend," it was a flimsy excuse, but it gave him one more night, just to try and get his head and heart settled. "I'll go back with him tonight and bring them in tomorrow, and then get a ride back with you tomorrow after work?" He tried to make it sound as though this was something completely okay with him, even though he felt nervous just in the same room as Sebastian. Sebastian nodded, although the hopeful expression on his face fell.

"Alright," he said, his tone a bit short. "I'll see you tomorrow." Jace opened his mouth, wondering if he should say something more, but then Sebastian left the garage, and Jace was left alone.

It was later that evening, almost eleven o'clock, and Jace was laying on the pull out couch in the lounge, when his phone vibrated. It was plugged into the charger at the wall, just out of arms reach, and Jace was thinking about ignoring it. Not many people had his number, and a text this late seemed more like a booty call than anything else, and it was probably going to be the girl from the cafe. But for some reason, he crawled out of the couch and looked at the screen.

Clary's name flashed.

Even though they had gotten closer in the past few weeks, they hadn't exchanged any text messages or phone calls since the night Sebastian had given him Clary's number and he had picked her up from work.

_We miss you._

It was simple.

Three tiny words.

And yet it made Jace's heart ache in his chest, completely surprised at the words. He hadn't expected her to reach out. Throughout Saturday and Sunday, Sebastian had messaged Jace, but Clary hadn't sent anything through to him, and he really hadn't expected anything from her.

Jace stared at his phone for almost five minutes, tapping the screen with his thumb every couple of seconds so that it didn't fade to black.

He had no idea how he was feeling. Definitely confused, but maybe...Maybe a little happy? Happy that Clary had reached out to him?

"Fuck," Jace muttered, dropping the phone back onto the ground and crawling back onto the couch. It was hard enough to face the fact that he definitely still had feelings for Sebastian, he definitely couldn't bring himself to start considering these feelings that were developing for Clary as well. So instead, he rolled over so that his back was to the phone, and attempted to sleep.


	16. Chapter 16

The first night after he went back with Sebastian, on the back of his bike, Jace felt a bit awkward. He didn't doubt for a second that Sebastian had told Clary about what they had discussed at her birthday lunch, that had resulted in him running off. But Clary hadn't made any comment about it, and other than staying quiet the first evening that Jace was back, she treated him just like she had the other weeks. Sebastian, on the other hand, seemed to second guess everything that he was saying, as though he was afraid of offending or upsetting Jace.

Jace hated it, because Sebastian technically hadn't done anything wrong. But he didn't want to tell him that and risk starting up a whole other conversation, because he just wasn't ready for that.

So for the week following the incident, he actually felt more comfortable around  _Clary_  than he did around Sebastian. Which was so weird, considering the way he had felt about Clary when he had first moved out to Los Angeles, a feeling of resentment in his stomach in his stomach every time she was mentioned and most definitely when he had first met her. The more he got to know her, and the warmth that seemed to exude around everyone she cared about, the more he thought that the initial awkwardness between them came down to himself, and how he had given her the cold shoulder during the first week or so. Because while Clary was sarcastic and sassy, she wasn't rude.

Some mornings she was there, and other mornings she was gone, with her car still in the driveway but her running shoes gone from the door. At least Jace knew that Sebastian had said to him when he had said that Clary was going out for a run in the mornings, and she wasn't just trying to avoid him.

It was Monday night of the week after Jace had come back to their home, when it seemed as though Clary was going to try and resolve things between the boys. Jace had spent the Saturday night at Isabelle's house, bonding with Max while Simon and Isabelle went out on a date night, getting home, and didn't come home until late Sunday afternoon. Clary was out working in the garden, and Sebastian was cooking in the kitchen. Jace helped Clary for a bit, carrying around the branches that she had pruned from one of the trees around to the compost heap behind the garage, and then sitting down on the grass and talking to her. Monday, Jace and Sebastian returned from work at the time as Clary who was just getting out of her car as they pulled into the driveway.

"Oh good," she said as she reached up on her tiptoes and gave Sebastian a quick kiss on the mouth and shot Jace a bright smile. "I did the grocery shopping, so you two can bring the bags in." She pressed the button for the boot on her key fob and then wandered off inside, leaving the two boys to grab the bags out of the boot. At one point, they both reached for the same bag and their knuckles bumped together, and Sebastian let out an awkward laugh while Jace just jerked his hand back quickly. When they both got inside, Clary was pulling things out of the cupboard and putting them on the bench.

Jace tried not to stare too hard at how good her ass looked in the black pencil skirt she was wearing, just more pronounced by the heels she was wearing. He glanced toward Sebastian and realized that the other man had caught him looking at Clary. He felt his cheeks heat up slightly at the way Sebastian raised an eyebrow, and quickly cleared his throat.

"So...Do you need help with dinner?" Jace asked as he looked around. Clary did most of the cooking, but Jace still felt as though he should offer to help. Besides, he liked helping her in the kitchen. Before the awkwardness that had sent him running off to Alec and Magnus', he had enjoyed the way that they had all moved around the kitchen, the boys probably getting in the way more than they were actually helping, but it had still felt warm and fun.

"Yup, you two are cooking," Clary stated.

"You're trusting us alone in the kitchen?" Sebastian smirked, moving in to loop an arm around her narrow waist and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"You're not that terrible," Clary rolled her eyes. "Anyway, it's just meatballs. You guys have got this." She pulled away from Sebastian to open up a cupboard underneath the sink and pulled out a receipe book, flipping to a page that looked well used. "Here you go. I'm off to have a shower." She winked at Jace in a way that was slightly confusing, and then skipped out of the room. Sebastian looked toward Jace, and Jace opened his mouth to respond when movement caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. A small grey cat with one white paw had come into the kitchen, giving him a nasty look.

Jace knew that Clary had a cat, and Sebastian had told him that it was named Narcissa, after some Harry Potter character, but he had never actually seen it. He saw Clary fill it's food and water bowls in the mornings, that were then empty in the evening, but still hadn't caught sight of the cat. Sebastian had said that while Narcissa—or Cissy, as Clary called her—hated pretty much everyone except Clary and Isabelle, and barely ever came out when anyone else was around. Clary hadn't seemed to phased by the fact that her cat had hardly ever been around, but it seemed as though maybe the cat was getting used to the third person being around the house constantly.

"Hey, Cissy," Sebastian sounded hilariously tentative as he looked down at the little grey cat, and Jace was relieved to see her nasty expression remain fixed on her face as she looked toward the other man. So at least Jace knew it wasn't just him. "If we both just stay really still, she might come in," Sebastian continued keeping his voice soft.

Jace honestly did try to keep his sneeze in.

His nose was twitching and his lips pressed together, trying to hold it in, but then he let out a loud sneeze that made Sebastian jerk in surprise and sent Cissy sprinting out of the kitchen. Jace winced and looked over at Sebastian who's eyes were wide open and his lips were parted.

And then he started laughing.

Jace was surprised for a moment, given how tense everything had been between the two of them in the past week. But Sebastian was laughing so hard that tears were beginning to gather in the corners of his eyes and he was holding his stomach, leaning against the corner of the bench, and Jace couldn't help but laugh along with him.

They laughed for longer than they should have, the both of them probably just continuing because it was a  _relief_ not to feel tense around each other.

When they finally stopped, the air just felt so much clearer, and Jace could breathe easier. Sebastian and Jace started to move around each other to start dinner. Jace took the mince out of the plastic bag while Sebastian put away the rest of the groceries that Clary had brought that they wouldn't need for dinner. One of the things that made him smile was the two different types of beer that Clary had brought, the kind that Sebastian preferred, and then the kind that Jace preferred. She was adapting to him living with him, and she was doing small things to try and make Jace more comfortable.

She was even trying to mend fences between Jace and her boyfriend.

Sebastian loved her for it.

"I'm  _starving_ ," Clary announced when she came back into the kitchen after her shower. Jace glanced over her shoulder as she came over to stand behind Sebastian, wrapping her arms around his waist and ducking her head around Sebastian's body to take in a deep breath of the meat sauce that Jace had mixed together and dumped into the frying pan that Sebastian was currently stirring. "That smells fucking amazing... _Soooo_  I'm guessing that it was Jace that made the sauce."

"Hey!" Sebastian attempted to protest, while Jace just grinned as he picked up the pot of fettuccine and tipped it into the strainer to get rid of the water that it had been cooking in.

"How much longer?" Clary asked as she managed to reach out and dunk the tip of one finger into the meat sauce and stuck it in her mouth. She let out a groan that was almost orgasmic and Jace's eyes widened, glad he wasn't actually looking at her as she sucked on her finger.

"Probably only a few minutes. You want to crack open a couple of those beers? It's pretty warm—we can sit outside tonight," Sebastian said and Clary nodded. She got out beers from the fridge, and Jace heard her turning on some music in the lounge, turning up the volume so that they would be able to hear it clearly from outside. Jace recognized the music, it was a singer that Clary listened to a lot, but he didn't know who she was. She had a raspy voice, he liked her music because it was kind of floaty, and he liked the way that Clary danced when this singer was on.

Not that he should be thinking like that.

But maybe he also liked the way that Sebastian looked at Clary when this singer was on, and when she was dancing around the lounge. It was soft, loving, and it made Jace's heart beat faster.

"You do the fettuccine first," Sebastian prompted and Jace realized that he had hesitated, looked toward the door of the kitchen even though Clary wasn't in his line of sight. Jace tried to tip equal shares of fettuccine onto the plates, but it wasn't cooperating, all trying to stick together and Jace had to try and use his fingers to separate them. Sebastain snorted and nudged him out of the way as he started to tip the sauce and meatballs onto the plates. Jace's head tipped to the side, and from where he was standing now, he could see Clary.

She was outside, on the back deck of their house, but she wasn't sitting down at the table. She was standing, singing along quietly to the music that was playing from the lounge. She was swaying from side to side, and Jace's eyes drifted down over her. She was wearing a short pair of sleeping shorts and an oversized shirt that was probably Sebastian's. Her hair was damp and in a ponytail, and when Clary turned around, she was looking directly at Jace, and she gave him a small smile.

"You take this one," Sebastian said quietly, and Jace cleared his throat to look back toward Sebastian, taking the plate from him. Jace took the plate from him while Sebastian carried the other two, and they walked outside, putting all three plates down. Clary smiled at them, sitting down opposite Jace and taking in another sniff of the food.

"Holy shit, man," she stated. "This smells so fucking  _good_!" Sebastian disappeared for a moment to grab some knives and forks, and handed them out when he reappeared.

"Dig in," Sebastian grinned at the three of them.

* * *

Another two weeks passed by, and things felt normal again.

Although, 'normal' was relative.

It was so strange to think that just a couple of months ago he was back in New York with his mum, and it felt as though there was no end to the repeat cycle of sleep, work, clean up after Celine, sleep. Sleep, work, worry about Celine, sleep. Sleep, work, go out and drink, clean up after Celine, sleep.

But now, this was his new normal.

And he liked it.

Another thing that he liked was the money that he was able to save up. When he was back in New York, he had to cover the cost of  _everything_. He paid for the rent, he paid for the utilities, he paid for food, and clothes, and their medical insurance. The only thing that he hadn't paid for was the alcohol that Celine drank herself into a stupor with everyday, which she always managing to find money for.

But given he wasn't even paying board—Sebastian and Clary refused to accept it, saying that they didn't need it to cover their mortgage repayments, they just wanted to help him out—and so his only expenses were for the gas for his bike, and helping out with groceries and utilities, his bank balance was looking healthier than it had in a while. When he went out with his cousins and their friends, sometimes he would even buy a round of drinks, given they took turns, and it felt like weight lifted from his shoulders to know that he could repay their kindness in even a small way.

Which lead him to where he was today.

Outside an artsy little store that had prices that made him feel just a little bit nauseous. He had got the name of the store from some of the paper bags that Clary had in her art room, the logo on almost all of the bags in there, holding her supplies. It had been almost a month since her birthday, but he still felt the need to get her something, just to say thank you, and maybe even sorry, for invading her home and space, and having her accept that so graciously.

"Hi," Jace approached the woman behind the counter, who looked as though she was definitely an artist herself. She had multiple colours of dye in her blonde hair, mismatched dangly earrings hanging down near her shoulder, and bright purple lipstick. She was wearing a swishing pink and blue dress, and there were paint stains on her clothes. "I was looking for a gift? I kind of don't really know what I'm looking for though..." he made a face as he looked around the store.

"Of course," she smiled at him. "Do you know what type of medium she uses? Oil, acrylic, water colour, charcoal, pencil?" The clueless look on Jace's face probably said it all, and she looked a little sorry for him as she let out a laugh. "Alright, uh..." she tipped her head to the side as she thought. "So she's good, I'm guessing?" The young woman asked.

"She's amazing," Jace stated honestly, not really thinking too much about his answer as he glanced around the store, feeling completely out of his element. The art work he saw hanging in the lounge everyday was proof of how good she was, and he also learned slowly, as he went to other houses, that she had pieces hanging at Alec and Magnus', at Isabelle and Simons, at Jon's— _everyone knew_  how good she was.

"Ah," she smiled knowingly. "Girlfriend."

"No," Jace quickly responded, and then winced as he wondered how to explain Clary. Girlfriend of a friend? That just sounded sleazy. And roommate sounded completely impersonal. "She's someone I haven't known for very long, but she's done a lot for me. And I wanted to say thank you."

"Oh okay," the woman nodded as she took in a deep breath. "Well, does she use pencils? Paint?"

"Paint," Jace said, glad that he knew the answer to actually one of the questions.

"Alright," the woman thought for a moment and then came out from around the counter and walked over to a bench in the corner. The store was small, but it was full, items overflowing on almost every surface, and Jace had to squeeze through a space between two desks to follow after the shop owner. She seemed to find what she was looking for and shuffled to the side so he could see what was in front of her. "What about these?"

They were glass jars, all different shapes and sizes, and while there were about twenty-five or thirty on the shelves, but they seemed to be in sets of five or six, patterned in the same way. The jars had different patterns painted on the side, with delicate chains on some of them, and molded flowers on others.

"They can hold paint brushes, pencils, water—anything, really," she told him. Jace pursed his lips as he looked them over, stepping forward and skimming his eyes over them. They were pretty, even if they weren't the sort of thing that he would usually shop for. He really should have brought Isabelle along, she would be better at picking them out.

"What about those ones?" Jace's interest peeked as he spotted ones tucked in at the back. The glass on the lower half was green, and then faded translucent as the jar went on. The top half had a delicate golden chains that were looped around the open top. They were simple, but pretty, and the green looked like it matched her eyes.

"Yeah? Good choice," the woman smiled as she picked up three of them, holding them carefully and then nodding at the two other in the set. "Grab those, and we'll get them all wrapped up for you." Jace smiled awkwardly at her as he grabbed the last three, following her back to the counter.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think !  
> Leave a comment :)


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